Socioeconomic disparities in rates of facial fracture surgeries for women and men at a regional tertiary care centre in Australia

de Jager, Elzerie, and Ho, Yik-Hong (2022) Socioeconomic disparities in rates of facial fracture surgeries for women and men at a regional tertiary care centre in Australia. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 92 (7-8). pp. 1700-1705.

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Abstract

Background: Assault is the most common mechanism of injury in patients presenting with facial trauma in Australia. For women, there is a propensity for maxillofacial injuries to stem from intimate partner violence (IPV). Those with a low socioeconomic status have higher rates of IPV. This study examines variations in the proportion of surgical procedures that are due to facial trauma for Australian women and men by employment status and residential socioeconomic status.

Methods: A single centre retrospective study was conducted (2008–2018). The proportion of operative patients presenting with facial fractures was examined. Multivariable logistic regression adjusting for year and age, was performed for women and men.

Results: Facial fractures comprised 1.51% (1602) of all surgeries, patients had a mean age of 32, and 81.3% were male. Unemployed patients were more likely to require surgery for a facial fracture (OR 2.36 (2.09–2.68), P <0.001), and there were no significant variations by index of economic resources (IER). Unemployed males had higher rates of facial fractures (OR 2.09 (1.82–2.39), P <0.001). Unemployed and disadvantaged IER females had higher rates of facial fractures (OR 5.02 (3.73–6.75), P <0.001 and OR 2.31(1.63–3.29), P <0.001).

Conclusions: This study found disparities in rates of surgery for facial fractures; unemployment increased the rates for men and women, whereas disadvantaged IER increased rates for women. Studies have demonstrated higher rates of IPV for unemployed and low socioeconomic status women. Further research ascertaining the aetiology of these disparities is important both for primary prevention initiatives and to enable treating clinicians to better understand and address the role of IPV and alcohol consumption in these injuries.

Item ID: 74295
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1445-2197
Keywords: disparities, facial fractures, maxillofacial injuries, maxillofacial trauma, socioeconomic status, surgery, surgical access, unemployed
Copyright Information: © 2022 The Authors. ANZ Journal of Surgery published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Date Deposited: 25 May 2022 08:03
FoR Codes: 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3202 Clinical sciences > 320226 Surgery @ 70%
42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420606 Social determinants of health @ 30%
SEO Codes: 20 HEALTH > 2001 Clinical health > 200104 Prevention of human diseases and conditions @ 100%
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