Media release
From: Menzies School of Health ResearchMenzies senior research fellow, Dr Michael Binks’ paper, Acute lower respiratory infections in Indigenous infants in Australia's Northern Territory across three eras of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (2006-15): a population-based cohort study was recently published in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.
The study examined acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) hospital admissions among Indigenous infants in the Northern Territory from 2006 to 2015, across three periods of different PCV use.
It found bacterial-coded pneumonia hospitalisations were reduced by 30 per cent during the era of PCV13 immunisation supporting its ongoing use in the region. However, despite the reduction, one in five Indigenous infants born in the region continue to be hospitalised with an ALRI in their first year of life, as was the case 15 years earlier.
In addition, the study found that rates of maternal smoking, gestational diabetes, anaemia, preterm birth, and low birthweight babies remain high with the burden of ALRI hospitalisation highest among those living in remote communities and in Central Australia.
The study suggests future gains would require multifaceted environmental and biomedical approaches.
The full paper can be found here https://bit.ly/3gjrOMe