The link between hearing impairment and child maltreatment among Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory of Australia: is there an opportunity for a public health approach in child protection?

Table 1 Demographic and selected health characteristics of the study cohort (n = 3895)

Characteristic	Number	Percent
Demographic characteristics
Female	1869	48.0
First Child	1304	33.5
Year of Birth
1999	353	9.1
2000	376	9.7
2001	487	12.5
2002	436	11.2
2003	469	12.0
2004	437	11.2
2005	372	9.6
2006	350	9.0
2007	337	8.7
2008	278	7.1
Maternal and perinatal factors
Low Birth Weight	526	13.5
Preterm birth	593	15.2
Admitted to special care nursery	1012	26.5^a
Born to teenage mothers	1270	32.6
Mother attend less than 7 antenatal visits	1334	34.2
Born to mothers with STI	441	11.3
Mother consumed alcohol during pregnancy	372	12.1^b
Mother smoked during pregnancy	1456	45.4^c
Hearing assessment
Normal hearing	1709	43.9
Unilateral hearing loss	740	19.0
Mild hearing impairment (HI)	1078	27.7
Moderate or worse HI	368	9.4
Community level factors
Living in most disadvantaged areas^d	3628	93.1
Living in very remote regions^e	3679	94.5

^aDenominator only includes those with recorded status of special care nursery (n = 3825)
^bDenominator only includes those with recorded status of maternal alcohol consumption (n = 3082)
^cDenominator only includes those with recorded status of maternal smoking (n = 3204)
^dIndex of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD) from ABS, [19] based on community that the children first attended school
^eAccessibility and Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) from ABS, [16] based on community that the children first attended school

ISSN: 1471-2458