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Trends in infectious disease mortality in Australia, 1979‐1994
Author(s) -
Dore Gregory J,
Li Yeuming,
Kaldor John M,
Plant Aileen J
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1998.tb141445.x
Subject(s) - disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , virology , geography , medicine , pathology
Objective To examine trends in infectious disease mortality in Australia over the Design Descriptive study based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Participants and setting All persons who died in Australia during 1979‐1994. Outcome measures Infectious diseases as the underlying cause of death by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes. Results Overall mortality from infectious diseases declined from 29.2/100 000 population in 1979‐1981 to 24.1/1 in 1992‐1994 (P=0.02). Respiratory infection was the major category of infectious disease mortality, declining from 15.8/1 in 1979‐1981 to 10.6/1 in 1992‐1994. HIV infection (increasing from O to 2.9/100 000) replaced kidney/urinary tract infection (3.3 to 1.5/100 000) as the second most common category of infectious disease mortality. There were also significant increases in mortality from septicaemia (1.0 to 2.6/100 000), and viral hepatitis (0.2 to 0.5/1). The only group in which infectious disease mortality increased was men aged 25‐44 years (3.4 to 15.1/1). The Northern Territory had the highest mortality rate from infectious disease, but showed a substantial decline (162 to 76/1) over the study period. There were also significant declines in Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia. Conclusions Mortality from infectious disease in Australia declined overall between 1979 and 1994. The substantial decline in the Northern Territory suggests a decline among indigenous Australians. HIV infection has become a leading cause of infectious disease mortality, particularly among adult males.