PT443 Burden of Rheumatic Heart Disease in the Solomon Islands

Abstract

O ST E R A B ST R A C T S improvements are yet to be seen in many developing countries and in Indigenous populations defined by ethnicity or geographical location. Recent estimates of the global burden of RHD have highlighted the paucity of reliable data documenting mortality from RHD from places where RHD prevalence is high. Objectives: To investigate rheumatic heart disease (RHD) mortality rates and trends for Indigenous compared with non-Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory (NT) for the period 1977-2005 and semi-nationally from 1997-2005. Methods: Indigenous identification in death registrations has been of high quality in the NT since 1977 and in four other states since 1997. Using national cause of death and population data, we investigated RHD mortality for the NT for 19772005 and five jurisdictions combined, for 1997-2005 examining RHD as the underlying cause of death. These jurisdictions include 84% of Indigenous Australians. We examined the number of deaths, age-specific and age-adjusted death rates; and for theNT only, regression analysis of time trends over a 29year period. All analysis was by undertaken by Indigenous status, gender, age at death. Results: In the NT for the period 1977-2005 there were 280 deaths from RHD; 90% were in Indigenous people and 59% in females. For non-Indigenous people death rates were low for all age-groups except 65+ age-group. Indigenous death rates increased with age and were higher for females than males in all age-groups. Death rates decreased between 1997 and 2005 for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the NT, but the decrease was greater for non-Indigenous people. RHD death rates were lower for Indigenous people in other parts of Australia than in the NT, but were still much higher than non-Indigenous rates. Conclusion: Indigenous people are much more likely to die from RHD than other Australians. Rates of death from RHD among Indigenous people in the NT exceed other states in Australia and those reported in many industrialised countries over a century ago. The majority of deaths among non-Indigenous Australians occur in people aged over 65 years and reflect a time in the mid-last century when rheumatic fever and RHD were more common in the overall Australian population. Disclosure of Interest: None Declared