The Medical journal of Australia
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To demonstrate an association between markers of streptococcal infection and markers of glomerulonephritis in Aboriginal children. ⋯ Group A streptococci are important causes of impetigo in Aboriginal children. Streptococcal skin infection may contribute to glomerular haematuria, proteinuria and persistent glomerulonephritis in Aboriginal children, and possibly to chronic glomerulonephritis in adult life. Public health programs are needed to reduce the prevalence of impetigo and group A streptococcal infections in Aboriginal communities; longitudinal studies are needed to test the relationship between streptococcal skin infection in Aboriginal children and chronic renal disease in later life.
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Comparative Study
Birth defects in the infants of aboriginal and non-aboriginal mothers with diabetes in Western Australia.
Because of the high prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes in Australian Aborigines, and a suggestion that the prevalence of birth defects was high in the infants of Aboriginal mothers with gestational diabetes, this study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of birth defects in infants of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal mothers with insulin-dependent, non-insulin-dependent, and gestational diabetes mellitus. ⋯ The excess of birth defects in infants of Aboriginal women with gestational diabetes may be due to non-insulin-dependent diabetes that predates the pregnancy but is only diagnosed during pregnancy. For Aboriginal infants, maternal diabetes may be the single most common known cause of birth defects that is amenable to change.
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To identify social and environmental differences associated with differences in admission rates of children from 10 rural Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. ⋯ Social and environmental factors correlated with the degree of community development are associated with the health of Aboriginal children. Improved development programs should be community-controlled and evaluated to identify the social, educational, behavioural and environmental changes that are most effective in improving health.
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Comparative Study
Prevalence of hypertension in Kimberley aborigines and its relationship to ischaemic heart disease. An age-stratified random survey.
To determine the age-specific prevalence of systolic and diastolic hypertension and of electrocardiographic abnormalities in the Aboriginal population of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. ⋯ The prevalence of both systolic and diastolic hypertension and of probable IHD was two to three times higher in Kimberley Aborigines than in Caucasian Australians. ECG evidence of infarct was significantly related to systolic hypertension in both sexes.