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Socio‐economic disadvantage and cardiovascular risk factors in young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians
Author(s) -
Thurber Katherine A,
Bell Katy JL
Publication year - 2019
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/mja2.50327
Subject(s) - indigenous , disadvantage , medicine , body mass index , demography , disease , pacific islanders , gerontology , environmental health , population , political science , sociology , law , ecology , biology
T hat cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death among both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and nonIndigenous Australians is recognised. But the impressive gains in preventing cardiovascular disease deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are perhaps less well known: annual cardiovascular mortality rates fell from more 400 per 100 000 Indigenous Australians in 1998 to just over 250 per 100 000 in 2012.1 Critical to the “deadly progress” in preventing cardiovascular disease have been large falls in the prevalence of smoking,2 especially among young people; the prevalence of smoking among 15–17 yearolds declined from 30% in 1994 to 17% in 2014–15,3 and among 18–24 yearolds from 51% in 2004 to 37% in 2014–15.2