Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic condition that can cause serious health complications. Some types of diabetes can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle – getting enough exercise, having a healthy diet, and not smoking. Diabetes is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and can lead to kidney damage. Often, people have all 3 of these conditions (AIHW 2015a).
In 2018–19, about 65,300 (13%) First Nations adults reported having diabetes or high sugar levels. Based on age-standardised rates, in 2018–19, First Nations adults were 2.8 times as likely to report having diabetes or high sugar levels as non-Indigenous adults (17% compared with 6.1%).
The prevalence of diabetes/high sugar levels increases with age, and was higher among First Nations people in remote areas than in non-remote areas (Figure 4.21).
Figure 4.21: Diabetes/high sugar levels among First Nations people, by remoteness and sex, and by remoteness and age group, 2018–19
Source: Measure 1.09, Table D1.09.2 – ABS 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey; Table D1.09.14 – AIHW and ABS analysis of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2018–19.
In the 5-year period 2015–2019, 7.3% (1,124) of total deaths of First Nations people were due to diabetes. The proportion of total deaths due to diabetes was higher for First Nations females (608 deaths or 8.7% of all First Nations female deaths) than First Nations males (516 deaths or 6.1%).
Between July 2017 and June 2019, 7,664 First Nations people were hospitalised with a principal diagnosis of diabetes, corresponding to a rate of 4.6 hospitalisations per 1,000 population. Based on age-standardised rates, First Nations people were hospitalised due to diabetes at a rate nearly 4 times that of non-Indigenous Australians (6.1 compared with 1.8 per 1,000 population).
Between 2010 and 2019, the age-standardised death rate from diabetes for First Nations people did not change significantly. There was also no significant change in the age-standardised rate of deaths due to diabetes among non-Indigenous Australians. However, death rates from diabetes remain relatively high for First Nations people compared with non-Indigenous Australians, with First Nations people dying from diabetes at about 4.7 times the rate (age-standardised) of non-Indigenous Australians in the period 2015–2019 (data from New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory combined).
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