Self-reported health experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the 2021 Australian population census.

Abstract

For the first time, a question relating to certain long-term health conditions was asked in the 2021 Australian population census. The conditions included arthritis, asthma, cancer (including remission), dementia (including Alzheimer's), diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes), heart disease (including heart attack or angina), kidney disease, lung condition (including COPD or emphysema), mental health condition (including depression or anxiety), and stroke. Respondents could indicate either none or any number of these conditions. In this paper, the data on these conditions have been analysed to compare the self-reported prevalence of diseases among the 23.4 million Australians who responded to this question (median age 39 years), of whom 3.2% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (median age 24 years). Standardised Morbidity Ratios for each disease were calculated for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by using the relevant age-disease specific morbidity rates for the total population as the 'standard'. Findings of this research revealed that the prevalence of diseases was much higher among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples compared to the total population. The only exception was cancer, where the rates for the two groups were not much different. Gaps in prevalence of diseases in the two groups generally increased with age. The higher rates among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples emphasise the need for continued action on health equity and the development of more nuanced and focused initiatives to reduce the gaps between the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples vis-à-vis the total population of Australia. Findings in this paper were consistent with similar studies (albeit largely surveys) on health of the Indigenous peoples in Canada and the Maoris in New Zealand.