Hospital admissions and length of stay for coronary disease in an Aboriginal cohort

Background and aims: Coronary disease (CHD)-retated hospital admission is more common among indigenous than non-indigenous Australians. We aimed to identify predictors of hospital admission potentially useful in planning prevention programs.Methods and results: Length of stay (LOS), interval between, and number of recurrent admissions were modelled with proportional hazards or negative binomial models using lifestyle data recorded in 1988-1989 among Aborigines (256 women, 258 men, aged 15-88 years) linked to hospital records to 2002. Among 106 Aborigines with CHID, hypertension (hazard ratio (HR) 1.69, 95% Cl 1.05-2.73); smoking (HR 1.90, 95% Cl 1.02-3.53); consuming processed meat > 4 times/month (HR 1.81, 95% Cl 1.01-3.24); > 6 eggs/week (HR 1.73, 95% Cl 1.03-2.94); and tower intake of alcohol (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.35-0.83) predicted LOS. Eating eggs (HR 1.05, 95% Cl 1.01-1.09) and bush meats >= 7 times/month (HR 0.46, 95% Cl 0.23-0.92) predicted interval between recurrent admissions. Hypertension (IRR 4.07; 95% Cl 1.32-12.52), being an ex-drinker (IRR 6.60, 95% Cl 2.30-19.00), eating red meat > 6 times/week (IRR 0.98, 95% Cl 0.97-0.99), bush meats > 7 times/month (IRR 0.26, 95% Cl 0.10-0.67), and adding salt to meats (IRR 3.16, 95% Cl 1.12-8.92) predicted number of admissions.Conclusion: Hypertension, alcohol drinking, smoking, and diet influence hospital admissions for CHD in Aboriginal Australians. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.