Critical Times

THE huge gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal people and other Australians living in the Northern Territory has failed to budge for two decades, a study has found.

But Darwin researchers said the reasons for the gulf had changed over time.

Health economist Yuejen Zhao and epidemiologist Karen Dempsey analysed NT death data over 20 years to 2000 in what they believe to be the first study looking at the contribution of specific causes of death to differences in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

They found that while the contribution of diseases or conditions associated with poor living conditions had declined over time, those linked to lifestyle factors had increased.

In other words, while the contribution of deaths relating to maternal health, nutritional deficiencies, pregnancy care and infectious and parasitic diseases halved during the 20-year period of the study, the gains were offset by significant increases in heart disease, diabetes, cancer and digestive diseases among indigenous Australians.

The researchers blamed a mix of problems, including educational disadvantage and adverse health behaviours in adulthood, which were aggravated by poor access to primary health care services.

“The introduction of effective and sustained primary care programs to address these unmet needs for preventive, early diagnostic measures and prompt intervention is a matter of urgency,” the authors wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia.

“Public health interventions need to focus on better prevention and management of chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases and diabetes for indigenous women and cardiovascular diseases, cancers and digestive diseases for indigenous men.”

In the 20 years between 1983 and 2003, nationwide Australians experienced a marked increase in life expectancy at birth, rising from 72 to 78 years in men and from 79 to 83 years in women.

However, over a similar period, the life expectancy at birth of Australia’s indigenous population was up to 20 years lower than that of the general Australian population.

In the Northern Territory between 1981 and 2000, age-standardised death rates for Aborigines were two to three times higher than for other people living there.

“In some age groups, particularly between 40 and 50 years, mortality rates of indigenous people were up to nine times higher,” the researchers said.

By Janelle Miles