Jr. Carapetis et Bj. Currie, Mortality due to acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in the Northern Territory: a preventable cause of death in Aboriginal people, AUS NZ J PU, 23(2), 1999, pp. 159-163
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
Public Health & Health Care Science
Journal title
AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Objective: To determine the death rates and effect on premature mortality i
n the Northern Territory of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disea
se.
Methods: We ascertained deaths due to acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic h
eart disease for the period 1979-96 from death certificates, a database of
all patients with these diseases and mortuary records. Crude and age-standa
rdised death rates were calculated, as were years of potential life lost be
fore age 65, between 15 and 65, and before age 70.
Results: Of 182 deaths, 171 (94%) were in Aboriginal people. The mean age a
t 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. A
cute carditis caused 13 deaths at a mean age of 14.2 years. Mortality in Ab
original people was highest in the >30 age groups and in females. Premature
mortality for Aboriginal people was more than four times that from develop
ing countries.
Conclusions: Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease are not only
common in Aboriginal people, they affect and often kill people in their mo
st productive years. A co-ordinated control program should help in the shor
t term, but will not address underlying causes of these and other preventab
le diseases.