Indigenous heart illness worse than thought

NARROWING the life expectancy gap between indigenous and other Australians may prove even harder than expected.

NARROWING the life expectancy gap between indigenous and other Australians may prove even harder than expected.

Doctors are warning that death rates from heart disease among Aborigines have been hugely underestimated.

New research shows indigenous people in their mid to late 20s are suffering heart attacks at up to 30 times the rate in the general population, and Aboriginal women are much more affected by heart disease than those in the mainstream community.

By the time individuals are aged 60-64, the difference in heart attack rates has lessened, but the indigenous people are still twice as likely to be affected by heart disease as other ethnic groups.

The findings are based on a West Australian study published in the journal Heart, Lung and Circulation, that produced the most accurate figures yet.

An accompanying editorial in the journal says the research, which analysed data from more than 7500 heart attack reports between 2000 and 2004, for people aged 25-74, found 208 deaths in indigenous people in Western Australia -- just 16 fewer deaths than recorded in the official figures for Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory combined from 2000 to 2005. "It does indeed appear that the mortality rates from coronary disease have been underestimated in the indigenous population," the editorial says.

While the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare had estimated death rates from heart disease in indigenous women aged 25-54 to be about 20 per 100,000 person years, the new research suggests the true death rate is closer to 30 per 100,000.

"The findings . . . are not surprising in the trend they demonstrate, but rather in the magnitude of the gap, which may well be worse than many thought it was," the editorial says.

"It is worth noting, however, that even this data may underestimate the magnitude of the problem."

Research chief investigator Sandra Thompson, director of the Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health in Geraldton, WA, said the improved accuracy of the figures showed the scale of the problem. "The whole burden of heart disease has shifted down to a much earlier age" in indigenous people, she said.

Leader of the National Heart Foundation's National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program Vicki Wade said the findings were significant and provided further motivation to make progress on federal Labor's 2008 pledge to reduce the life expectancy gap within a generation.