Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/120672
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Type: Journal article
Title: Indigenous compared with non-Indigenous Australian patients at entry to specialist palliative care: cross-sectional findings from a multi-jurisdictional dataset
Author: Woods, J.
Newton, J.
Thompson, S.
Malacova, E.
Ngo, H.
Katzenellenbogen, J.
Murray, K.
Shahid, S.
Johnson, C.
Citation: PLoS One, 2019; 14(5):e0215403-1-e0215403-15
Publisher: Public Library Science
Issue Date: 2019
ISSN: 1932-6203
1932-6203
Editor: Frey, R.
Statement of
Responsibility: 
John A. Woods, Jade C. Newton, Sandra C. Thompson, Eva Malacova, Hanh T. Ngo, Judith M. Katzenellenbogen, Kevin Murray, Shaouli Shahid, Claire E. Johnson
Abstract: BACKGROUND:There are few quantitative studies on palliative care provision to Indigenous Australians, a population known to experience distinctive barriers to quality healthcare and to have poorer health outcomes than other Australians. OBJECTIVES:To investigate equity of specialist palliative care service provision through characterising and comparing Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients at entry to care. METHODS:Using data (01/01/2010-30/06/2015) from all services participating in the multi-jurisdictional Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration, Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients entering palliative care were compared on proportions vis-à-vis those expected from national statutory datasets, demographic characteristics, and entry-to-care status across fourteen 'problem' domains (e.g., pain, functional impairment) after matching by age, sex, and specific diagnosis. RESULTS:Of 140,267 patients, 1,465 (1.0%, much lower than expected from statutory data) were Indigenous, 133,987 (95.5%) non-Indigenous, and 4,905 (3.5%) had a missing identifier. The proportion of patients with a missing identifier diminished markedly over the study period, without a corresponding increase in the proportion identified as Indigenous. Indigenous compared with non-Indigenous patients were younger (mean 62.8 versus 73.0 years, p<0.001), a higher proportion were female (51.5% versus 46.3%; p<0.001) or resided outside major cities (44.2% versus 21.5%, p<0.001). Across all domains, Indigenous compared with matched non-Indigenous patients had lower or equal risk of status requiring prompt intervention. CONCLUSIONS:Indigenous patients (especially those residing outside major cities) are substantially under-represented in care by services participating in the nationwide specialist palliative care Collaboration, likely reflecting widespread access barriers. However, the similarity of status indicators among Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients at entry to care suggests that Indigenous patients who are able to access these services do not disproportionately experience clinically important impediments to care initiation.
Rights: © 2019 Woods et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215403
Grant ID: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1133793
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215403
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