Patterns of weight growth in aboriginal children on Queensland communities

We have used data from existing health records to study the birthweights and percentage weights for age (%W/A) of children in five Aboriginal communities in Queensland. The data are from cohorts of children born in the 1950s-80s at Cherbourg, the 1960s-80s at Yarrabah and the 1970s-80s in Woorabinda, Palm Island and Doomadgee. Birthweights have not changed significantly in any of the communities and generally remain below the international level. The weights for 1 and 5 year old children have improved significantly at Cherbourg and Palm Island, but have dropped significantly at Doomadgee. The overall pattern is for children on remote communities to have a lower %W/A and less improvement in %W/A than those closer to population centres. Other workers have found the same pattern elsewhere. These patterns of growth are probably not directly related to the level of general health services, but rather to other facilities available and attitudes of mothers to child care. The results also show that Aboriginal children can reach international levels of %W/A, so the poor growth in many communities is potentially preventable.