RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Investigating inequities in cardiovascular care and outcomes for Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: protocol for a hospital-based retrospective cohort data linkage project
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e043304
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043304
VO 11
IS 3
A1 Kearns, Therese
A1 Diaz, Abbey
A1 Whop, Lisa J
A1 Moore, Suzanne P
A1 Condon, John R
A1 Andrews, Ross M
A1 Katzenellenbogen, Judith M
A1 Matthews, Veronica
A1 Wang, William
A1 Johnston, Trisha
A1 Taylor, Catherine
A1 Potts, Boyd
A1 Kathage, Alex
A1 Suleman, Abdulla
A1 Stanley, Lucy
A1 Mitchell, Louise
A1 Garvey, Gail
A1 Williamson, Daniel
YR 2021
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/3/e043304.abstract
AB Introduction Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents a significant burden of disease for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, a population that continues to experience a lower life expectancy than other Australians. The aim of the Better Cardiac Care Data Linkage project is to describe patient care pathways and to identify disparities in care and health outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Queensland residents diagnosed with CVD in the state of Queensland.Methods This is a population-based retrospective cohort study using linked regional, state and national health and administrative data collections to describe disparities in CVD healthcare in primary and secondary prevention settings and during hospitalisation. The CVD cohort will be identified from the Queensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection for admissions that occurred between 1 July 2010 and 31 June 2016 and will include relevant International Classification of Disease codes for ischaemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Person-level data will be linked by Data Linkage Queensland and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) in accordance with ethical and public health approvals to describe the patient journey prior to, during and post the hospital admission.Analysis This project will focus largely on descriptive epidemiological measures and multivariate analysis of clinical care standards and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared with other Queenslanders, including identification of risk factors for suboptimal care and change over time. Variation in care pathways and patient outcomes will be compared by Indigenous status, sex, age group, remoteness of residence, year of index hospitalisation and socioeconomic status. Cox models for time-to-event data and mixed models or generalised estimating equations for longitudinal data will be used to measure change over time where temporal effects exist.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been granted by Human Research Ethics Committees of the Prince Charles Hospital (HREC/15/QPCH/289) and the AIHW (EO2016-1-233). The Northern Territory Department of Health and Menzies School of Health Research have also provided reciprocal ethical approval of the project (HREC 2019–3490). The deidentified results will be summarised in a report and shared with investigators, advisory groups, Queensland Health and key stakeholders. Findings will be disseminated through workshops, conferences and will be published in peer-reviewed journals.