Hospitalisations related to lower respiratory tract infections in Northern Queensland.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the admission characteristics and hospital outcomes for patients admitted with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) in Northern Queensland. METHODS: We perform a retrospective analysis of the data covering an 11-year period, 2006-2016. Length of hospital stay (LOS) is modelled by negative binomial regression and heterogeneous effects are checked using interaction terms. RESULTS: A total of 11,726 patients were admitted due to LRTI; 2,430 (20.9%) were of Indigenous descent. We found higher hospitalisations due to LRTI for Indigenous than non-Indigenous patients, with a disproportionate increase in hospitalisations occurring during winter. The LOS for Indigenous patients was higher by 2.5 days [95%CI: -0.15; 5.05] than for non-Indigenous patients. The average marginal effect of 17.5 [95%CI: 15.3; 29.7] implies that the LOS for a patient, who was admitted to ICU, was higher by 17.5 days. CONCLUSIONS: We highlighted the increased burden of LRTIs experienced by Indigenous populations, with this information potentially being useful for enhancing community-level policy making. Implications for public health: Future guidelines can use these results to make recommendations for preventative measures in Indigenous communities. Improvements in engagement and partnership with Indigenous communities and consumers can help increase healthcare uptake and reduce the burden of respiratory diseases.