Statistics on circumcision?

[GraceUnhearing]

just curious if anyone knew them

i was talking to someone today about their child being the 'odd one out' at school

so does anyone know what the statistics are on it now?

[Milliner]

I can find you the current medicare stats if you like?

[GraceUnhearing]

yeah that would be good :)

[Milliner]

In 2008 19,656 circumcision were performed on babies under 6 months.

4,238 were done on males under 10 years of age but over 6 months

622 were done on a male over 10 years of age

29 HAEMORRHAGE, arrest of, following circumcision requiring general anaesthesia

[~Emmylou~]

The national rate is around 12% of boys being circ'ed at birth I think.

[NibbleCurlynBub]

4,238 were done on children over 10 years of age

622 were done on a male over 10 years of age
What?
So the other 3,616 were FEMALE?

I actually thought that was illegal. :confused:

[Milliner]

Sorry, males not children - I have edited the post now to stop confusion. And yes, circumcision is illegal in Australia.

[Milliner]

The figures are from Medicare. So, they only show the figures of people who have claimed a rebate. Thought I might need to *** this before someone points this out.

Also, if anyone would like to know how to generate these figures through the Medicare reporting system PM me.

[NibbleCurlynBub]

Ok glad you cleared that up, now I understand. :)

But wouldn't that just mean its 4,860 on males over 10? :confused:

Or is that 4,238 were done on children UNDER 10 years of age?

Sorry, I know I'm a pain. :o

[Milliner]

No, sorry it's my fault. When I typed it out I was in a realy hurry. :o

It should make more sense now.

4,238 over 6 months but under 10

[NibbleCurlynBub]

:thumbsup: Makes total sense now! :)

That is still quite high.. It would be good to see the difference in figures between those medically required and those that were requested for other reasons.

[Milliner]

Another figure is 2,310 males over 10 required a specialist appointment. All the rest are 'GP' appointments under THERAPEUTIC PROCEDURES

[GraceUnhearing]

thank you :)

[Milliner]

What's incorrect?

Medicare Statistics information contains a variety of information pertaining to claims made under Medicare. The will not give you figures on people who did not make a claim.

If someone were not entitled to Medicare benefits then they cannot claim, therefore they would not be included in the statistics.

[JohnC]

If someone were not entitled to Medicare benefits then they cannot claim, therefore they would not be included in the statistics.

Indeed. And the largest class has historically been public patients in public hospitals. These numbers have been in decline over the past decade, but are still significant. In the year to June 2000 there were 7,000 public patient circumcisions on boys aged 0-14 years, while in 2006-7 there were 4,500. Hospital data for 2007-8 has not yet been published.

This decline (a result of State health systems progressively eliminating routine circumcision as an elective procedure) has closely matched the rise in Medicare rebates, meaning that the actual number of circumcisions has remained pretty well constant over the past decade.

[GraceUnhearing]

Incorrect.

huh?
how is she incorrect?


she is right. its only the people that have put in a cliam that are noted.

care to elaborate why shes wrong?

[JohnC]

This is the Medicare data from 1994 onwards, as far back as the publicly available record goes. Since I cannot tabulate here, I have linked to a table (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3605/3317476659_01518ba829_o.jpg) I have prepared.

Note that the large increases in various years correspond to declines in public hospital circumcisions (as per previous post), with most of those procedures moving out of public system to doctor's rooms -- most notably to medical entrepreneurs such as Terry Russell who have built entire practices around circumcision.

The last State systems to discontinue elective circumcision were Victoria and South Australia in September and December of 2007.

[GraceUnhearing]

i wonder why its increasing
thanks John :)

[JohnC]

i wonder why its increasing

My point is that it is not increasing :no:. Rather the rise in Medicare rebates is being cancelled out by the decline in public patient circumcisions.

Here is a summary table (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3472/3318368838_9bdcccf165_b.jpg) for the years in which I have good data.

Note that "cumulative risk" means the percentage of boys that will be circumcised by age 15 if the trends in that year continue.

To anticipate another question: about 2 percentage points are religious circumcisions (mainly Muslim), and another 2 points are for "medical reasons" (mainly phimosis).

In other words, about 15% of boys will be unnecessarily circumcised by age 15 based on 2007 trends.

[GraceUnhearing]

In other words, about 15% of boys will be unnecessarily circumcised by age 15 based on 2007 trends.

unfortunately

thanks again John :)

[JohnC]

The statistics would be useless if this was the case.
They are all incidences of medical operations which doctors record.

You may wish to check the official Medicare item reports page (https://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/statistics/mbs_item.shtml) before sounding off:

The figures in the report include only those services that are performed by a registered provider, for services that qualify for Medicare Benefit and for which a claim has been processed by Medicare Australia. They do not include services provided by hospital doctors to public patients in public hospitals or services that qualify for a benefit under the Department of Veterans' Affairs National Treatment Account.