Improving lung health of Aboriginal children hospitalised with chest infections – Aboriginal Children’s Excellent (ACE) Lung Health Study

Investigators: Pamela Laird, André Schultz, Matt Cooper, Anne Chang, Roz Walker, Fenella Gill, Maree Toombs, Richard Norman

Aims:

• To improve the follow-up of First Nations children after they’ve been in hospital with acute lower respiratory infections.
• To encourage culturally secure care from health practitioners through training (focus groups, workshops and online modules).
• To reduce the burden of chronic lung disease and improve lung health outcomes for First Nations kids.

Project description

Through the ACE project, led by Dr Pamela Laird, a strategy for better follow-up of First Nations children after they’ve been in hospital for respiratory infections will be developed, in a bid to halt the slide into more severe lung disease.

Australian First Nations children have the world’s highest reported rates of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs), experiencing higher hospitalisation rates and more severe disease than other Australian children.

One in five young First Nations children hospitalised for an ALRI is diagnosed with bronchiectasis – a chronic, debilitating and life-shortening lung disease – within two years of being discharged.

This tragic trajectory could be prevented by effective medical follow-up four weeks after discharge from hospital, during which clinicians would screen for and manage persistent wet cough – an early sign of the disease.

Without a clear follow-up strategy many of these children may miss out on important treatment after being in hospital.

While national guidelines recommend First Nations children receive medical follow-up a month following hospital discharge, this is not widely known and there are not processes in place to facilitate this.

From 2023 to 2027 Dr Laird will lead a team of researchers to develop and trial an effective, culturally secure follow-up strategy.

The group will work with partner organisations from Queensland and from the Kimberley and Pilbara regions in Western Australia, including Aboriginal medical services that support remote-living First Nations communities.

Through this trial the aim is to:

• increase families’ respiratory health knowledge and medical follow-up rates
• improve discharge processes
• encourage culturally secure care from health practitioners, and
• help clinicians better manage these conditions in primary care and hospital settings.

The ultimate aim is to ensure these children don’t slip under the radar once they’re out of hospital, and in doing so reduce the burden of chronic lung disease and improve lung health outcomes for First Nations kids.

Collaborators

• Telethon Kids Institute
• The University of Western Australia
• Menzies School of Health Research
• Queensland University of Technology
• University of Queensland
• Curtin University

Funders

The Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund

More information

To find out more on this project, please email Dr Pamela Laird