Objective: To monitor incidence rates of first-time hospital admission with an illicit drug problem in the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations of Western Australia in 1980-95. Method: Some 10,533 first admission...
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Objective: To monitor incidence rates of first-time hospital admission with an illicit drug problem in the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations of Western Australia in 1980-95. Method: Some 10,533 first admissions among 16,294 total admissions mentioning any of 19 groups of illicit drug problems were identified using linked hospital separation data from the WA Health Services Research Linked Database. Results: Trends in age-standardised rates showed two distinct features: a rapid acceleration in first-time admission rates commencing from about 1991;and a cross-over of the rates in Indigenous and non-indigenous people. In 1980, the rates were 9.2 per 100,000PY in Indigenous and 16.4 per 100,000PY in non-indigenous people. By 1995, the respective rates were 180.7 and 95.5 per 100,000PY. Largest proportional increases were observed in first-time admissions mentioning amphetamine dependence or abuse, although increases were seen also in problems due to opiates, hallucinogens, cocaine and cannabis. Conclusion: The results are consistent with data on the rising use of injectable amphetamines and other illicit drugs, especially among Aboriginal people. Implications: Urgent attention is required to identify ways of reducing health problems due to illicit substance use in both Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
Objective: To determine the death rates and effect on premature mortality in the Northern Territory of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Methods: We ascertained deaths due to acute rheumatic fever and...
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Objective: To determine the death rates and effect on premature mortality in the Northern Territory of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Methods: We ascertained deaths due to acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease for the period 1979-96 from death certificates, a database of all patients with these diseases and mortuary records. Crude and age-standardised death rates were calculated, as were years of potential life lost before age 65, between 15 and 65, and before age 70. Results: Of 182 deaths, 171 (94%) were in Aboriginal people. The mean age at death of Aboriginal people was 35.7 years, compared to 67.3 years in non-Aboriginal people. The age-standardised death rate in Aboriginal people was 30.2 per 100,000 person-years, compared to 1.1 in non-Aboriginal people. Acute carditis caused 13 deaths at a mean age of 14.2 years. Mortality in Aboriginal people was highest in the >30 age groups and in females. Premature mortality for Aboriginal people was more than four times that from developing countries. Conclusions: Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease are not only common in Aboriginal people, they affect and often kill people in their most productive years. A co-ordinated control program should help in the short term, but will not address underlying causes of these and other preventable diseases.
Palliative care is a service available to many Australians subject to location and varying criteria. This paper seeks to identify some of the issues that hamper the provision of this sophisticated service to Aborigine...
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Palliative care is a service available to many Australians subject to location and varying criteria. This paper seeks to identify some of the issues that hamper the provision of this sophisticated service to Aborigines living in remote parts of the Northern Territory. The paucity of literary sources of information demonstrates the need for research to be carried out in this field.
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