Notes on the data: Aboriginal premature mortality by selected cause

Deaths from circulatory system diseases, Aboriginal people aged 0 to 54, 0 to 64 and 0 to 74 years, 2018 to 2022

Policy context: Diseases of the circulatory system include all diseases and conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels and include cardiovascular diseases. They represent a significant burden for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in terms of prevalence, hospitalisation, and mortality [1]. Coronary heart disease (or ischaemic heart disease), cerebrovascular disease (including stroke), hypertension (high blood pressure), and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) are of particular importance to Indigenous people [1].

Modifiable behavioural factors include tobacco use, physical inactivity, dietary behaviour, and excessive alcohol consumption [2]. Modifiable biomedical factors include hypertension, high blood cholesterol, overweight and obesity, and depression. Certain related health conditions, particularly diabetes and chronic kidney disease, can also increase the risk of developing these diseases [2].

One fifth (20.5%) of all deaths of Aboriginal people occurring before 75 years of age were due to diseases of the circulatory system; this was the second largest cause of premature death.

The data show that, for 2018 to 2022 almost three quarters (72.6%) of deaths of Aboriginal people from circulatory system diseases occurred before 75 years of age, 52.3% before 65 years and 31.0% before 55 years – details here. This was over three times the proportion for the total population at ages 0 to 74 years (72.6% c.f. 23.7%).

References

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. Overview of Australian Indigenous health status, 2014. [Internet] 2014. [cited 2015 May 7]. Available from: http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/overviews
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Cardiovascular disease: Australian facts 2011. Canberra: AIHW; 2011.

Notes: International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes: I00-I99

Deaths data

For deaths data released since 2007, the ABS has applied a staged approach to the coding of cause of death which affects the number of records available for release at any date. In general, the latest year’s data is preliminary, the second latest is revised and the data for the remaining years is final. For further information about the ABS revisions process see the following and related sites: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3303.0Explanatory+Notes12012.

However, data published here are from the following releases: 2018, 2019 and 2020 final; and 2021 , and 2022 preliminary.

Data quality

Almost all deaths in Australia are registered. However, Indigenous status is not always recorded, or recorded correctly. The incompleteness of Indigenous identification (referred to as completeness of coverage) means that the number of deaths registered as Indigenous is an underestimate of the actual number of deaths which occur in the Indigenous population. It should also be noted that completeness of coverage is likely to vary between geographical areas.

While there is incomplete coverage of Indigenous deaths in all state and territory registration systems, some jurisdictions have been assessed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as having a sufficient level of coverage to enable statistics on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality to be produced. Those jurisdictions are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Geography: Data available by Indigenous Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic outcomes (based on IRSEO) and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Aboriginal deaths from circulatory system diseases at ages 0 to 54, 0 to 64 and 0 to 74 years

Denominator: Aboriginal population aged 0 to 54, 0 to 64 and 0 to 74 years

Detail of analysis: Average annual indirectly age-standardised rate per 100,000 Aboriginal population (aged 0 to 54, 0 to 64 and 0 to 74 years); and/or indirectly age-standardised ratio, based on the Australian standard

Source: Data compiled by PHIDU from deaths data based on the 2018 to 2022 Cause of Death Unit Record Files supplied by the Australian Coordinating Registry and the Victorian Department of Justice, on behalf of the Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the National Coronial Information System. ABS estimated resident population (produced as a consultancy for PHIDU), 30 June 2021