School of General Practice, Rural, and Indigenous Health, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Med J Aust. 2010 Aug 2;193(3):146-8. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03833.x.
To describe the health service attendance patterns of urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) Australians and make comparisons with those of the general Australian population.
General practitioner-completed survey of all attendances over two separate 2-week periods in 2006 at an urban Aboriginal health service in Canberra, which provides services for about 3500 patients per annum.
Standardised attendance ratios (SARs) for a range of health problems, using patients attending Australian general practice for the same reasons as the reference population.
Patients attending the Aboriginal health service were significantly younger than the Australian general practice patient reference population. The most common conditions managed were psychological, encompassing substance misuse; psychological problems accounted for 24% of all attendances. Patients attending the Aboriginal health service had higher rates of attendance for psychological conditions (SAR, 2.14; 95% CI, 2.01-2.28), endocrine conditions (SAR, 2.44; 95% CI, 2.29-2.60) and neurological conditions (SAR, 2.90; 95% CI, 2.71-3.09), as well as for circulatory, digestive and male and female genital conditions, than the reference population. Patients attending the Aboriginal health service had significantly lower attendance rates than the Australian population for respiratory illnesses, and conditions related to eyes or ears.
At this urban Aboriginal health service, attendance patterns reflected complex health care needs that are different from those expected of a population of this age. Urban Aboriginal health service attendance appears to reflect significant ill health among the patients, aligning more with Aboriginal health statistics nationally rather than health statistics for urban non-Aboriginal Australians.
描述城市原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民（原住民）澳大利亚人的卫生服务就诊模式，并与一般澳大利亚人口进行比较。
2006 年，堪培拉的一家城市原住民健康服务机构对所有就诊患者进行了为期两周的两次全科医生调查，该服务机构每年为约 3500 名患者提供服务。
使用因同样原因就诊于澳大利亚普通诊所的患者作为参考人群，针对一系列健康问题的标准化就诊率（SAR）。
就诊于原住民健康服务机构的患者明显比澳大利亚普通诊所患者参考人群年轻。管理的最常见病症是心理问题，包括药物滥用；心理问题占所有就诊人数的 24%。就诊于原住民健康服务机构的患者心理状况（SAR，2.14；95%可信区间，2.01-2.28）、内分泌疾病（SAR，2.44；95%可信区间，2.29-2.60）和神经疾病（SAR，2.90；95%可信区间，2.71-3.09）的就诊率较高，以及循环系统、消化系统和男性和女性生殖系统疾病的就诊率也较高，而参考人群则较低。就诊于原住民健康服务机构的患者因呼吸系统疾病和眼耳相关疾病的就诊率明显低于澳大利亚人群。
在这家城市原住民健康服务机构，就诊模式反映了与该年龄段人群预期不同的复杂医疗需求。原住民健康服务机构的就诊情况似乎反映出患者的健康状况不佳，这与全国原住民健康统计数据更一致，而不是与城市非原住民澳大利亚人的健康统计数据一致。
