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Trends in general practice services in two cohorts of Australian children between 2003–2004  and 2010–2011

Lixin Ou, Jack Chen and Kenneth Hillman
Med J Aust 2013; 199 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/mja13.10105
Published online: 7 October 2013

To the Editor: Despite concerns about suspected reductions in general practitioner visits for Australian children,1,2 there has been a lack of research to investigate trends in GP visits over the past decade.


  • Simpson Centre for Health Services Research, South Western Sydney Clinical School/Australian Institute of Health Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.


Correspondence: lixin.ou@unsw.edu.au

Acknowledgements: 

This study used unit record data from Growing up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The LSAC was conducted in partnership between the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The findings and views reported in this paper are our own and should not be attributed to FaHCSIA, AIFS or the ABS.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. Freed GL, Sewell JR, Spike NA. Challenges to children’s health care in an ageing Australia. Med J Aust 2011; 195: 436-437. <MJA full text>
  • 2. Britt H, Miller GC, editors. General practice in Australia, health priorities and policies 1998 to 2008. Canberra: AIHW, 2009. (AIHW Cat. No. GEP 24; General Practice Series No. 24.) http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442468257 (accessed Sep 2013).
  • 3. Sanson A, Nicholson J, Ungerer J, et al. LSAC discussion paper no. 1: introducing the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2002. http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/pubs/discussion/dp1/index.html (accessed Jan 2013).
  • 4. Ou L, Chen J, Garrett P, Hillman K. Ethnic and Indigenous access to early childhood healthcare services in Australia: parents’ perceived unmet needs and related barriers. Aust N Z J Public Health 2011; 35: 30-37.
  • 5. Poulton R, Caspi A, Milne BJ, et al. Association between children’s experience of socioeconomic disadvantage and adult health: a life-course study. Lancet 2002; 360: 1640-1645.

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