Hospital and emergency department discharge against medical advice in Western Australian Aboriginal children aged 0-4 years from 2002 to 2018: A cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Discharge against medical advice (DAMA) is a priority issue for the health system. Little is known about the factors associated with DAMA for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) children in Australia.

Objectives

Investigate the associations between DAMA for hospital admissions and emergency department (ED) presentations and: (i) child, family and episode of service characteristics and (ii) 30-day readmission/ re-presentation.

Methods

We conducted a cohort study of Aboriginal children born in Western Australia (2002-2013) who had ≥1 hospital admissions (n = 16,931) or ED presentations (n = 26,546) within the first 5 years of life. The outcome of interest was hospital and ED DAMA and adjusted odds ratio were derived using multilevel mixed-ef

SUBMITTER: Christensen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10946741 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature