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Reducing the incidence of burn injuries to Indigenous Australian children

Roy M Kimble and Bronwyn R Griffin
Med J Aust 2017; 206 (9): . || doi: 10.5694/mja17.00151
Published online: 15 May 2017

Burns are a specific health burden, but understanding the detail is vital to finding solutions

It is undisputed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous Australian) children are over-represented in statistics for injury and death caused by trauma. The incidence of each of the major mechanisms of fatal trauma in Australian children — drowning and low speed vehicle run-overs — is higher among Indigenous children.1,2 Burn injuries are also more prevalent among Indigenous children.3


  • 1 Pegg Leditschke Children's Burns Centre, Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD
  • 2 Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD


Correspondence: royk@uq.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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  • 2. Griffin BR, Watt K, Shields LE, Kimble RM. Characteristics of low-speed vehicle run-over events in children: an 11-year review. Inj Prev 2014; 20: 302-309.
  • 3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: an overview 2011 (AIHW Cat. No. IHW 42). Canberra: AIHW, 2011.
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  • 5. Ivers RQ, Hunter K, Clapham K, et al. Understanding burn injuries in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: protocol for a prospective cohort study. BMJ Open 2015; 5: e009826.
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  • 7. Smith AC, Kimble R, O’Brien A, et al. A telepaediatric burns service and the potential travel savings for families living in regional Australia. J Telemed Telecare 2007; 13: 76-79.
  • 8. Marino MJ, Kimble RM, Stockton KA. Paediatric burns patients: reasons for admission at a tertiary centre. Burns 2015; 41: 708-713.
  • 9. Chan QE, Barzi F, Cheney L, et al. Burn size estimation in children: still a problem. Emerg Med Australas 2012; 24: 181-186.
  • 10. NSW Institute of Trauma and Injury Management. NSW trauma app. June 2016. https://www.aci.health.nsw.gov.au/get-involved/institute-of-trauma-and-injury-management/projects/trauma-app (accessed Mar 2017).
  • 11. Brown NJ, Kimble RM, Gramotnev G, et al. Predictors of re-epithelialization in pediatric burn. Burns 2014; 40: 751-758.

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