title: Risks of severity and readmission of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children hospitalised for bronchiolitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the characteristics of children admitted to Royal Darwin Hospital with bronchiolitis, and to compare the severity of illness and incidence of subsequent readmission in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study of 101 children (aged <or=2 years) hospitalised with bronchiolitis to Royal Darwin Hospital between April 2005 and December 2006.
  
  
  METHODS
  Admission characteristics and indices of severity, treatment required (antibiotics etc.), reasons and incidence of readmissions (within 6 months).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Indigenous children had significantly more severe illness then non-Indigenous children (n= 80 and 21, respectively), longer hospital stay (median = 6 and 3 days; P= 0.001) and oxygen requirement (median = 3 and 0; P= 0.004), pneumonia (n= 14 and 0; P= 0.04) and antibiotics treatment (48 and 4; P= 0.001). The readmission rate for bronchiolitis was high (23%) with no significant difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Indigenous Australian children hospitalised with bronchiolitis have significantly more severe illness than non-Indigenous children. Points of intervention that can address this and the identified high readmission rate (within 6 months) are required.
authors.affiliation: Queensland Children's Respiratory Centre, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. emilyjanebailey@gmail.com
authors.forename: Emily J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maclennan
authors.forename: Peter S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Sue G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kruske
authors.forename: Ngiare
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Anne B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D015876:Northern Territory / Q000453:epidemiology; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index