Summary
This summary booklet provides key findings from the main report Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with coronary heart disease: further perspectives on health status and treatment.
The issues
It is well known that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have much higher death rates from ‘major coronary events’ (often known as heart attacks) than other Australians. But what has not been known is whether this is because they are much more likely to have a heart attack in the first place; have much lower survival; are more complex cases; or receive less treatment—or some combination of these and other factors.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were more likely to have a major coronary event than other Australians
Indigenous Australians were more likely to die after a major coronary event
Indigenous Australians were less likely to receive coronary procedures to treat their coronary heart disease
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people presenting to hospital with CHD tend to be more complex cases than other Australians
Case complexity does not appear to account for the lower coronary procedure rates in Indigenous Australians compared with other Australians
Cautions about the data
End matter: Glossary