Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
School
Office of Associate Dean - Research and Higher Degrees (FEA) / Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet
RAS ID
16908
Abstract
Kidney disease is a significant health problem for all Australians, but severe kidney disease is more common among Indigenous people than among non- Indigenous people. In particular, the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the overall levels of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are consistently reported as significantly higher than among other Australians. Information on CKD among Indigenous Australians is available from self-reported survey data, as well as from community-based studies and screening programs [10-20] but the main focus in the literature has been on ESKD. The incidence of ESKD is especially high for Indigenous people living in remote and very remote areas of Australia [Derived from 5] with rates of ESKD highest in northern Australian Indigenous communities. People with CKD require extensive hospital services, particularly those patients with ESKD who require kidney replacement therapy (KRT) to survive. As such, CKD is a significant cause of hospitalisation for the Indigenous Australian population; this is particularly the case for dialysis, the form of KRT on which far greater proportions of Indigenous people with ESKD than their non-Indigenous counterparts rely. In 2009-10, care involving dialysis was the most common reason for the hospitalisation of Indigenous Australians: they were hospitalised at 11 times the rate of other Australians. Indigenous people have substantially higher death rates than other Australians from most causes and diseases of the kidney and urinary system are one of the top ten leading causes of death overall, for all Australians, including Indigenous people. Indigenous people are more likely to die from kidney disease that non-Indigenous people, with the death rate ratios being particularly high after the age of 25 years for both Indigenous males and females compared with rates for non-Indigenous Australians
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
Stumpers, S. A., & Thomson, N. J. (2013). Review of kidney disease among Indigenous people . Australian Indigenous Health Bulletin, 13(2), 1-22. Available here