LEADING CAUSES OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER DEATHS

The following analysis is based on 2,387 deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons, which is an aggregate of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory data only for the 2011 reference year. Data for Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have been excluded due to small numbers of registered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths. Caution should still be taken when interpreting data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians presented in this publication, especially with regard to year to year changes. See Explanatory Notes 68-76 for further information.

Over two-thirds (70.3%) of deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons were accounted for by the following four underlying causes of death: Diseases of the circulatory system (I00-I99) (589 deaths or 24.7%); Neoplasms (C00-D48) (508 or 21.3%); External causes of mortality (V01-Y98) (371 or 15.5%); and Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E90) (211 or 8.8%).

Table 6.1 highlights the leading causes based on the World Health Organization recommendation for leading causes (see Chapter 2, Leading Causes of Death for more information). The top 10 leading causes of death account for over half (53.8%) of all deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons.

All rate ratios presented in this table and all following sections are based on age standardised death rates (the number of deaths per 100,000 persons) comparing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous populations.

6.1 WHO leading causes(a), NSW, Qld, SA, WA and NT(b) - by Indigenous status - 2011(c)
	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander	SDR(d)	Non-Indigenous	SDR(d)	Rate ratio(e)	Rate difference(f)
Cause of Death and ICD-10 code	no.	rate	no.	rate
Ischaemic heart diseases (I20-I25)	329	163.4	15 128	87.2	1.9	76.2
Diabetes (E10-E14)	181	97.9	2 654	15.3	6.4	82.6
Chronic lower respiratory diseases (J40-J47)	135	76.3	4 465	25.7	3.0	50.6
Malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung (C33-C34)	128	68.9	5 687	32.5	2.1	36.4
Intentional self-harm [suicide] (X60-X84)(g)	128	25.7	1 518	9.6	2.7	16.1
Cerebrovascular diseases (I60-I69)	97	71.6	8 054	46.6	1.5	25.0
Cirrhosis and other diseases of liver (K70-K76)	91	29.3	1 048	6.1	4.8	23.2
Land transport accidents (V01-V89)	84	16.2	915	5.7	2.8	10.5
Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (P00-P96)	56	5.8	392	2.6	2.2	3.2
Diseases of the urinary system (N00-N39)	55	35.1	2 232	12.9	2.7	22.2
(a) Causes listed are the leading causes of death for all deaths registered in 2011, based on WHO recommended tabulation of leading causes. See Explanatory Notes 41-43 for further information.
(b) Data are based on five jurisdictions for which the quality of Indigenous identification in mortality data is considered acceptable (NSW, Qld, SA, WA and NT only). See Explanatory Notes 68-76 for further information on interpreting data relating to deaths of Indigenous persons.
(c) Causes of death data for 2011 are preliminary and subject to a revisions process. See Explanatory Notes 29-33 and Technical Notes, Causes of Death Revisions, 2006 in Causes of Death, Australia, 2010 and Causes of Death Revisions, 2009 and 2010 in this publication. (d) Standardised death rate. Deaths per 100,000 of estimated mid-year population. See Glossary for further information. (e) Rate ratio is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate divided by the non-Indigenous rate. (f) Rate difference is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate less the non-Indigenous rate. (g) Excludes Sequelae of suicide (Y87.0) as per the WHO recommended tabulation of leading causes. Care needs to be taken in interpreting figures relating to suicide. See Explanatory Notes 92-95.

Figure 6.2 presents further comparisons of age-standardised rates for specific causes for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous populations.

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