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Aim: There is limited information on the health status of urban Australian Aboriginal children and young people attending community-based child health services. Such information is vital to plan appropriate services. The objective of the study is to describe the health status and service use of children and young people presenting to an urban Aboriginal Community Paediatric Service in Sydney, Australia.Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of routinely collected data extracted from electronic medical records and the Australian Immunisation Register for urban Aboriginal children and young people aged 0-18 years who visited the service between January 2013 and December 2017.Results: A total of 273 Aboriginal children and young people had 609 occasions of service. Almost all (97.35%) were fully immunised. Forty-six percent of occasions of service noted >3 diagnoses; 55% of the consultations were for mental health and behavioural disorders. The most frequent diagnoses were speech and language delay, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and school difficulty. Psychosocial concerns were noted in 61.2% of occasions of service, and 19.4% of children had a history of prematurity. Eighty-five percent of consultations had an onward referral to additional services. The most common referrals were for audiology, ear-nose and throat specialists and speech therapy. There were low numbers of referrals to mental health services relative to the high number of mental health diagnoses.Conclusion: It is essential that we address the mental, developmental and psychosocial needs of Aboriginal children and young people who attend urban Community Child Health services. Integrated service models should be developed in partnership with Aboriginal community to do this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Many children admitted to hospital undergo invasive, painful and stressful procedures, including children who are not toilet trained undergoing transurethral bladder catheterisation (TUBC). Oral sucrose is commonly given to children to reduce procedural pain. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of oral sucrose in reducing procedural pain in children aged between 3 months and 3 years undergoing TUBC.Methods: This study was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted at Nepean Hospital, Sydney, Australia from June 2005 to June 2010. A total of 40 participants requiring TUBC for diagnostic evaluation were included. The participants were randomly assigned to receive 4 mL of 75% oral sucrose (n = 20) or a placebo (sterilised water) (n = 20). The primary outcomes were changes in two paediatric pain scale scores (the FLACC pain scale and the OUCHER pain scale), assessed by the parent/guardian(s), the doctor performing the TUBC and the nurse assisting. The secondary outcomes were physiological (changes in heart rate) and behavioural pain (crying) indicators.Results: Of the outcome measures, 65% favoured the oral sucrose group, 31% favoured the placebo group, and 4% found no difference between the oral sucrose and placebo groups.Conclusion: While the trends favouring the sucrose group in this study were encouraging, as the results were not statistically significant, there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of oral sucrose in reducing procedural pain in children aged between 3 months and 3 years undergoing TUBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The objective of this study was to assess whether maternal characteristics, placental size or histological chorioamnionitis was associated with newborn body composition. Furthermore, we sought to determine whether placental weight may mediate the association between maternal pre-pregnancy weight and age with newborn body composition.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia. This study included 136 healthy, singleton, term-born newborns. Recruitment was stratified by newborn body fat percentiles (gender and gestational adjusted). Body fat was assessed by air displacement plethysmography. Placental examination was conducted by an anatomical pathologist. Maternal (chorioamnionitis) and fetal (chorionic and umbilical vasculitis, funisitis) inflammatory responses were classified according to Redline criteria.Results: Maternal pre-pregnancy weight, parity, labour, placental weight and surface area were associated with newborn fat mass and fat-free mass. Gestational diabetes and maternal age were associated with newborn fat mass but not fat-free mass. There was no association between histological chorioamnionitis and newborn body composition; however, spontaneous onset of labour was strongly associated with the presence of histological chorioamnionitis. Only 25-31% of the association of maternal weight and age with newborn fat mass was mediated via the placenta.Conclusions: Maternal factors associated with newborn fat mass and fat-free mass differed, indicating that different mechanisms control fat mass and fat-free mass. Our mediation analysis suggests that placental weight partly mediates the association of maternal factors with newborn body composition. Histological chorioamnionitis was not associated with newborn body composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the use of marijuana and alcohol among Arabic- and Vietnamese-speaking senior school students compared with English-speaking background senior school students in Sydney Australia.Method: A quantitative survey of 2573 school students attending Years 10 and 11 from 12 high schools with a high Vietnamese and Arabic population was conducted in Sydney in 1998. Self-reported marijuana use, school and cultural background information was collected.Results: Students from an English-speaking background, both males and females, had almost double the prevalence of marijuana use (once or more) during their lifetime (48.3 and 43.6%), the 12 months (40.9 and 36.3%) and 1 month prior to survey administration (23.1 and 13.4%) than the group with the second highest frequency of use (students of European and other backgrounds). Female Vietnamese (7.3% lifetime use) and Arabic students (8.6% lifetime use) had the lowest marijuana use rates, which were less than half that of male Vietnamese (23.5% lifetime use) and Arabic students (28% lifetime use). A similar pattern was found for three types of alcohol use. Spending three or more evenings a week out with friends was associated with higher alcohol use for Vietnamese students (relative risk ratio of 2.76).Conclusions: These results confirm lower marijuana and alcohol use among students from Vietnamese- and Arabic-speaking backgrounds compared with students from an English-speaking background. Harm minimization strategies may be learned from some migrant communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]