Zhao, Yuejen

Unnikrishnan, Renu

Chondur, Ramakrishna

Wright, Jo

Green, Danielle

2024-07-11

The gaps in healthy life expectancy (HLE) between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are significant. Detailed and accurate information is required to develop strategies that will close these health disparities. This paper aims to quantify and compare the causes and their relative contributions to the life expectancy (LE) gaps between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia.The age-cause decomposition was used to analyse the differences in HLE and unhealthy life expectancy (ULE), where LE = HLE + ULE. The data was sourced from the burden of disease and injury study in the NT between 2014 and 2018.In 2014-2018, the HLE at birth in the NT Indigenous population was estimated at 43.3 years in males and 41.4 years in females, 26.5 and 33.5 years shorter than the non-Indigenous population. This gap approximately doubled the LE gap (14.0 years in males, 16.6 years in females) at birth. In contrast to LE and HLE, ULE at birth was longer in the Indigenous than non-Indigenous population. The leading causes of the ULE gap at birth were endocrine conditions (explaining 2.9-4.4 years, 23-26%), followed by mental conditions in males and musculoskeletal conditions in females (1.92 and 1.94 years, 15% and 12% respectively), markedly different from the causes of the LE gap (cardiovascular disease, cancers and unintentional injury).The ULE estimates offer valuable insights into the patterns of morbidity particularly useful in terms of primary and secondary prevention.

Health Statistics & Informatics Branch, Northern Territory Department of Health, Floor 6, Manunda Place, 38 Cavenagh St, Darwin, PO Box 40596, Casuarina, NT, 0811, Australia. yuejen.zhao@nt.gov.au.

Health Statistics & Informatics Branch, Northern Territory Department of Health, Floor 6, Manunda Place, 38 Cavenagh St, Darwin, PO Box 40596, Casuarina, NT, 0811, Australia.

Health Statistics & Informatics Branch, Northern Territory Department of Health, Floor 6, Manunda Place, 38 Cavenagh St, Darwin, PO Box 40596, Casuarina, NT, 0811, Australia.

Health Statistics & Informatics Branch, Northern Territory Department of Health, Floor 6, Manunda Place, 38 Cavenagh St, Darwin, PO Box 40596, Casuarina, NT, 0811, Australia.

Health Statistics & Informatics Branch, Northern Territory Department of Health, Floor 6, Manunda Place, 38 Cavenagh St, Darwin, PO Box 40596, Casuarina, NT, 0811, Australia.

Popul Health Metr . 2024 Jul 11;22(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s12963-024-00335-z.

1478-7954

0000-0002-5775-4503

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38992670/?otool=iaurydwlib

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/13468

Burden of disease and injury

Decomposition

Healthy life expectancy

Life expectancy

Population health

Humans

Life Expectancy

Male

Female

Middle Aged

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Adult

Aged

Health Status Disparities

Adolescent

Young Adult

Australia

Child

Infant

Northern Territory

Aged, 80 and over

Child, Preschool

Infant, Newborn

Indigenous Peoples

Decomposing the gaps in healthy and unhealthy life expectancies between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians: a burden of disease and injury study.

Journal Article

Publication