ADULT HEALTH


Self-assessed health

Self-assessed health status provides an indicator of overall health, reflecting an individual's awareness and expectations of their own health and wellbeing. In 2014–15, 40% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over rated their health as excellent or very good and a further 35% rated their health as good. However, approximately one-quarter (26%) rated their health as fair or poor (Table 12).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males were more likely than females to rate their own health as excellent or very good (43% compared with 37%). This pattern was evident in both non-remote areas (42% compared with 36%) and remote areas (45% compared with 38%) (Figure 7.1.1 and Table 12).

Figure 7.1.1. Self-assessed health status(a), by sex and remoteness — 2014–15


The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over who rated their health as excellent or very good decreased with age, from 54% of those aged 15–24 years to 22% of those aged 55 years and over. The were no statistically significant differences between the proportions of males and females in each age group who rated their health as excellent or very good (Table 4).

The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people aged 15 years and over who rated their health as excellent or very good has decreased from 44% in 2008 to 40% in 2014–15 (Table 1). Results from the 2012–13 Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (AATSIHS)[1] were similar, with 39% of people rating their health as excellent or very good.

After adjusting for differences in the age structure of the two populations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were around half as likely as non-Indigenous people to have rated their health as excellent or very good (rate ratio of 0.6) (Table 1), which was consistent with the rate ratio observed in the 2012–13 AATSIHS (0.6)[1].

Long-term health conditions

People with a long-term health condition or disability may experience a range of challenges and stresses, including physical and functional limitations caused by their condition; ongoing management and/or treatment, with associated financial and emotional burden; and difficulties maintaining social relationships[2].

In the 2014–15 NATSISS, a long-term health condition is any diagnosed medical condition that, at the time of the survey, had lasted, or was likely to last, for six months or more. A long-term health condition is considered to be a disability (or restrictive long-term health condition) when it restricts everyday activities. Long-term health condition data were collected in a short module, and as such, are not considered to be the best estimates of prevalence for long-term health conditions. More detailed data on long-term health conditions are collected in the 2012–13 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS)[1] and, wherever possible, should be used for this purpose.

Long-term health conditions data have been included in the NATSISS to enable the exploration of the broad interrelationships between health and a range of other socioeconomic indicators. One such example is the feature article Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a mental health condition included in this publication. In this article, the health and socioeconomic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a mental health condition are compared with outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people without a mental health condition, specifically, people with other long-term health conditions and no long-term health conditions.

Disability

In this analysis, people with disability include those who identified any limitation, impairment, disease or disorder (diagnosed or undiagnosed) that has lasted, or was likely to last, for six months or more, and which restricted everyday activities. One measure of the severity of a disability or restrictive long-term health condition is the amount of help a person needs with core activities such as self care, mobility or communication.

In 2014–15, just under half (45%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over said they experienced disability (43% of males compared with 47% of females). Around one-third of those with disability (16%) had no specific limitation or restriction, while the remainder experienced varying degrees of functional impairment. Needing most assistance were the 8% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over with a profound or severe core activity limitation as a result of their disability or restrictive long-term health condition, that is, they required help or supervision with core activities some or all of the time (Table 12).

Reflecting the greater likelihood of ill-health over the life course, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people with a profound or severe core activity limitation increased with age. In 2014–15, one in twenty (5%) of those aged 15–24 years had a profound or severe core activity limitation, compared with 14% of those age 55 years and over (Figure 7.1.2 and Table 4).

Figure 7.1.2. Profound or severe core activity limitation(a), by age — 2014–15


After adjusting for differences in the age structure of the two populations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were twice as likely as non-Indigenous people to have a profound or severe core activity limitation as a result of a disability or restrictive long-term health condition (rate ratio of 2.1) (Table 1).

In the NATSISS, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over have been grouped into broad disability types, based on the functional limitations they reported. In 2014–15, the most common of these broad disability types was comprised of physical impairments (29%), followed by sensory (sight, hearing, speech) (21%), psychological (9%) and intellectual (8%) impairments. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females were more likely than males to have a physical disability (31% compared with 27%) or psychological disability (10% compared with 7%) (Figure 7.1.3 and Table 12).

Figure 7.1.3. Selected disability type(a), by sex — 2014–15



Endnotes

1 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013. Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: First Results, Australia, 2012–13, ABS cat. no. 4727.0.55.001. ABS: Canberra.

2 VicHealth, 2012. Disability and health inequalities in Australia, <https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/publications/disability-and-health-inequalities-in-australia>; last accessed 18/04/2016.