Table 2: Comparison of childhood developmental outcomes in exposed and comparison populations: crude risks (%) and adjusted relative risks (RR).
| NT | Qld | NSW | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exposed % (n) | Comparison % (n) | Adjusted RR1 (95% CI) | Adjusted RR2 (95% CI) | Exposed % (n) | Comparison % (n) | Adjusted RR1 (95% CI) | Adjusted RR2 (95% CI) | Exposed % (n) | Comparison % (n) | Adjusted RR1 (95% CI) | Adjusted RR2 (95% CI) | |
| Total sample | 579 | 1,850 | 377 | 2,215 | 97 | 413 | ||||||
| Developmentally vulnerable in: | ||||||||||||
| Physical health and wellbeing | 19% (109) | 15% (283) | 1.00 (0.82,1.22) |
0.94 (0.75,1.18) |
23% (87) | 17% (377) | 1.28 (1.04,1.58) |
1.31 (1.06,1.61) |
6% (6) | 9% (38) | 0.73 (0.32,1.65) |
0.66 (0.27,1.64) |
| Social competence | 18% (103) | 14% (263) | 1.05 (0.85,1.29) |
0.99 (0.78,1.24) |
18% (67) | 15% (343) | 1.10 (0.86,1.40) |
1.14 (0.89,1.45) |
9% (9) | 11% (47) | 0.87 (0.45,1.70) |
0.69 (0.34,1.43) |
| Emotional maturity | 15% (88) | 14% (248) | 0.96 (0.77,1.19) |
0.91 (0.71,1.17) |
16% (61) | 14% (307) | 1.10 (0.85,1.42) |
1.13 (0.88,1.46) |
10% (10) | 8% (33) | 1.31 (0.68,2.54) |
1.12 (0.52,2.41) |
| Language and cognitive skills (school-based) | 20% (114) | 15% (281) | 0.92 (0.76,1.10) |
0.83 (0.68,1.01) |
19% (73) | 14% (313) | 1.24 (0.99,1.57) |
1.24 (0.98,1.57) |
9% (9) | 5% (21) | 2.25 (1.11,4.57) |
1.95 (0.82,4.64) |
| Communication skills and general knowledge | 12% (72) | 12% (222) | 0.77 (0.61,0.99) |
0.74 (0.57,0.97) |
21% (78) | 13% (293) | 1.40 (1.12,1.76) |
1.49 (1.18,1.87) |
≤5 | 7% (30) | 0.79 (0.31,1.98) |
0.60 (0.22,1.67) |
| Developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains | 36% (210) | 32% (596) | 0.93 (0.82,1.05) |
0.86 (0.75,0.98) |
40% (152) | 32% (717) | 1.19 (1.04,1.36) |
1.22 (1.06,1.39) |
27% (26) | 22% (92) | 1.30 (0.91,1.87) |
1.17 (0.79,1.75) |
The RR is the risk in the exposed group divided by the risk in the comparison group.
RRs from Model 1: adjusted for sex, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status and Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) year.
RRs from Model 2: adjusted for sex, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, AEDC year, English as second language (NT only), Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD) quintile and remoteness. In NSW, the two lowest remoteness categories, and the two highest IRSD quintiles were combined to avoid sparse categories. RRs from Model 2 are represented in a forest plot in Figure 3.
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Denominators for risks exclude missing values. The number of missing as a proportion of total data, n (%):
Physical health and wellbeing = NT: 3 (0.1%), Qld: 1 (0.0%)
Social competence = NT: 7 (0.3%)
Emotional maturity = NT: 18 (0.7%), Qld: 6 (0.2%), NSW: 2 (0.4%)
Language and cognitive skills (school-based) = NT: 8 (0.3%), Qld: 1 (0.0%)
Communication skills and general knowledge = Qld: 3 (0.1%).