Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Monash Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Matern Child Health J. 2024 Apr;28(4):649-656. doi: 10.1007/s10995-023-03819-w. Epub 2023 Nov 18.
Approximately one-third of all births in Australia each year are by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women. CALD women are at an increased risk of adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes including prematurity and low birthweight. Infants born weighing less than 2500 g are susceptible to increased risk of ill health and morbidities such as cognitive defects including cerebral palsy, and neuro-motor functioning.
An existing linked administrative dataset, Maternity 1000 was utilized for this study which has identified all children born in Queensland (QLD), Australia, between 1st July 2012 to 30th June 2018 from the QLD Perinatal Data Collection. This has then been linked to the QLD Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection, QLD Hospital Non-Admitted Patient Data Collection, QLD Emergency Department Data Collection, and Medicare Benefits Schedule and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Claims Records between 1 and 2012 to 30th June 2019.
Culturally and linguistically diverse infants born with low birthweight had higher mean and standard deviation of all health events and outcomes; potentially preventable hospitalisations, hospital re-admissions, ED presentations without admissions, and development of chronic diseases compared to non-CALD infants born with low birthweight.
Results from this study highlight the disparities in health service use and health events and outcomes associated with low birthweight infants, between both CALD and Australian born women. This study has responded to the knowledge gap of low birthweight on the Australian economy by identifying that there are significant inequalities in access to health services for CALD women in Australia, as well as increased health events and poor birth outcomes for these infants when compared to those of mothers born in Australia.
澳大利亚每年大约有三分之一的婴儿是由文化和语言多样化（CALD）的女性所生。CALD 女性在妊娠和分娩结局不良方面的风险增加，包括早产和低出生体重。出生体重低于 2500 克的婴儿易患健康问题和发病率增加，如认知缺陷，包括脑瘫，以及神经运动功能障碍。
本研究利用了现有的链接行政数据集 Maternity 1000，该数据集从昆士兰州围产期数据收集中心识别了 2012 年 7 月 1 日至 2018 年 6 月 30 日期间在澳大利亚昆士兰州出生的所有儿童。然后将其与昆士兰州住院患者数据收集、昆士兰州非住院患者数据收集、昆士兰州急诊部数据收集以及医疗保险福利计划和药品福利计划记录进行链接，时间为 2012 年 1 月至 2019 年 6 月 30 日。
与非 CALD 低出生体重婴儿相比，出生体重低的文化和语言多样化婴儿的所有健康事件和结果的平均值和标准差都更高；潜在可预防的住院治疗、再次住院、急诊就诊但未入院以及慢性病的发生。
本研究结果突出了低出生体重婴儿在医疗服务使用以及与健康事件和结果方面的差异，这与 CALD 和澳大利亚出生的女性有关。本研究通过确定澳大利亚 CALD 妇女在获得医疗服务方面存在显著不平等，以及与澳大利亚出生的母亲相比，这些婴儿的健康事件增加和出生结局较差，从而填补了低出生体重对澳大利亚经济影响的知识空白。
