Trends in demand for general anaesthetic care for paediatric caries in Western Australia: geographic and socio-economic modelling of service utilisation.

AIMS

This study aimed to assess the temporal and spatial changes in the demand for general anaesthesia, relative to disease incidence, in 0-19-year-olds.

METHODS

Hospitalisation data were obtained from the Western Australian Morbidity Data System for the financial years 1999/2000 to 2004/2005, and principal diagnosis was obtained from every patient discharged from a public or private hospital. Hospitalisation data was correlated with socioeconomic status and the geographical location of primary residence.

RESULTS

In the public hospital sector, there were greater rates of people residing in Statistical Local Areas (SLAs) with decreasing accessibility to healthcare services utilising the option of treatment of dental caries under general anaesthetic (GA) compared to people living within highly accessible areas. In the private sector, children who resided in SLAs with the greatest access to healthcare facilities had a greater rate of being hospitalised for the treatment of dental caries under GA.

CONCLUSIONS

The results demonstrated distinct patterns of trends in demand for general anaesthetic care among different SES groups and geographical location of primary residence. There was an overall emerging trend of increasing demand placed on public sector both among dental care users among high and low SES. Moreover, the results demonstrated the potential application of geographic modelling as a service planning tool for estimating the future demand for GA care for dental caries in addition to the timely need for focused attention on preventive services for early identification, prevention and control of dental caries among children.