Recent patterns in chronic disease mortality in remote living Indigenous Australians

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Indigenous Health Research

Background:

• Persistent Indigenous-non-Indigenous health disparities in Australia.
• Emerging reports suggest potential improvements in Indigenous mortality rates.
• Need to quantify Indigenous mortality in specific geographic regions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify Indigenous mortality in Outer Regional (OR), Remote (R), and Very Remote (VR) areas.
• To analyze changes in Indigenous mortality from 1998 to 2005 across specified regions and states/territories.

Main Methods:

• Calculated mortality rates and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for Indigenous populations.
• Utilized ICD-10 codes for cardiovascular, diabetes, and renal mortality.
• Used the 2001 Australian population as the reference for SMR calculations.

Main Results:

• In 1998-2001, Indigenous SMRs for all-cause mortality were 241% (OR), 421% (R), and 220% (VR).
• By 2001-03, SMRs decreased to 202% (OR), 331% (R), and 176% (VR).
• Annual all-cause mortality showed downward trends: -3.0% (OR), -4.2% (R), and -0.5% (VR).
• Significant decreases in the absolute number of Indigenous deaths were observed across all remoteness categories between 2002-2005 compared to 1998-2001.

Conclusions:

• Indigenous mortality remains elevated (2-4 fold) across OR, R, and VR areas.
• A notable downward trend in mortality was observed, irrespective of residence remoteness.
• The reduction in overall mortality numbers contributed to these observed trends, consistent across states/territories.