Burden of Disease in First Nations peoples 2018 (AIHW)

According to the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018, asthma was, in First Nations people: (ref 1)
– 7th leading cause of disease burden in First Nations people, contributing 3.4% to the total burden (crude rate, NOT age-standardised)
– Burden of asthma was greater in females (4.3%) compared to males (2.5%)
– 4th leading cause of non-fatal disease burden (5.7% of total non-fatal burden)

Comment: Note important variation between age-standardised (below) and crude (above) burden of disease ranking for First Nations people, due to the differences in age structure between First Nations (younger population) and non-Indigenous Australians.

Key findings from the Australian Burden of Disease Study (ABDS) 2018 also include:
– Asthma ranked 11th in 2018 as leading specific cause of total burden (age-standardised, fatal and non-fatal burden) in First Nations people, compared to 17th in 2003 and 13th in 2011, an increase of 36.4% compared to 2003. (ref 2,3)
– In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 5-14 years old, asthma was the third leading cause of total burden of disease in 2018, contributing 8.7% to the total burden.(ref 4)
– the aged-standardised DALY (disability-adjusted life years) rate for asthma was 11.4 DALY per 1,000 people in 2018 compared to 8.3 in 2003 (ref 2)
– Asthma was the leading cause of respiratory disease burden among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged under 45 in 2018 (contributing 80% of respiratory burden).(ref 4)
– Respiratory diseases contributed to 7% of total burden (DALY) in 2018 for both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians (ref 2)
– the gap in (all-cause) total burden has narrowed between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian between 2003 and 2018, with 49% of the burden of disease in indigenous Australian being preventable in 2018 (ref 2)
– gap: the contribution of asthma to total burden of disease in 2018 was 2.2 times higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared to other Australians, with a difference of 6.3 years lost to premature death or living with an illness or injury. (ref 4)
– gap: asthma contributed 1.6% to the burden of disease difference between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australian in males, and 4.1% in females in 2018. (ref 4)
– the risk factors contributing to the most (all-cause) burden of disease in 2018 were tobacco use (12%), alcohol use (10%), overweight (9.7%), illicit drug use (6.9%) and dietary factors (6.2%) (ref 2)