Mortality rates in 14 Queensland Aboriginal reserve communities

We report the results of an age standardized comparison of the mortality rates of Queenslanders and persons living in 14 Aboriginal reserves (or communities) in Queensland. The analysis distinguishes four categories of cause of death. For all causes of death, mortality rates for people living on reserves exceeded the rates for the comparable Queensland population. On some Aboriginal reserves mortality rates were substantially higher than on others. Mortality rates from infectious diseases on some reserves were 200 (Doomadgee, Woorabinda) to 300 (Lockhart River) times those which prevailed in Queensland as a whole.