Alcohol kills one Indigenous person every 38 hours - report

Monday, February 12, 2007: Alcohol causes the death of an Indigenous Australian every 38 hours on average, according to new research from the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI). Aboriginal women as young as 25 years old are dying of haemorrhagic stroke due to heavy drinking. The National Drug Research Institute, which studied every alcohol-related Aboriginal death between 2000 and 2004, says many Aboriginal Australians die from strokes or from suicide...
Disturbing new research by the National Drug Research Institute on Indigenous health shows that alcohol causes the death of an Indigenous Australian every 38 hours. The Institute's Dr Tanya Chikritzhs says trends and numbers vary widely across the country, but that the overall message is an alarming one.

The situation appears to be worse in the Northern Territory than anywhere else, while the trends over time in Western Australia show a significant increase since 2001. Suicide is the most common cause of death for Indigenous males.

In WA’s north, death rates rose from six to 10 per 10,000 between 2001 and 2004. It had the highest rate of deaths due to alcohol for Aboriginals in the country except for the Northern Territory and part of north-west Queensland. Australia-wide, cirrhosis of the liver was the number one killer — 46 per cent of all deaths — followed by suicide at 26 per cent.

"There are a whole range of reasons why there might be high levels of alcohol use. But one of the things to consider is the availability of treatment services and resources. I think for Western Australia, there's one treatment service in Broome which is intended to provide services for the entire northern region, and that's pretty incredible really," said Dr Tanya Chikritzhs.

NDRI has found that the deaths of 1145 Indigenous Australians between 2000 and 2004 were caused by alcohol. The cause of death for more than half was alcoholic liver cirrhosis or suicide, and the average age of death from an alcohol-attributable cause was about 35. The figures are contained in the National Alcohol Indicators Project (NAIP) Bulletin 11, Trends in alcohol-attributable deaths among Indigenous Australians, 1998-2004, released today.

Researchers say trends and numbers of alcohol-attributable deaths vary widely both between and within State borders, which means targeted region-specific approaches are needed to improve Indigenous health.

NDRI Senior Research Fellow Dr Tanya Chikritzhs said this was the first NAIP bulletin to document numbers of alcohol-attributable harms among Indigenous Australians. "This kind of information is important in planning our response to Indigenous health issues and in showing where resources should be directed for the maximum benefit," Dr Chikritzhs said.

NDRI Indigenous Australian Research Team Leader Dennis Gray said the figures, which should be regarded as conservative estimates, showed Australia still had a long way to go to address the inequality between the health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. "If we are serious about addressing this disparity and reducing death rates among Indigenous Australians, we need to focus on the underlying social causes of that ill health," Professor Gray said.

"For instance, suicide is the most frequent alcohol caused death among Indigenous men, which reflects the despair that many Indigenous people feel."

NDRI, which receives core funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, is based at Curtin University of Technology’s Health Research Campus in Shenton Park, Perth.

National Drug Research Institute WEBSITE:
http://www.ndri.curtin.edu.au/

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State Breakdown:
Death rates by regional breakdown and year are available on page four of the bulletin. Overall, the national alcohol-attributable death rate for the period 2000-2004 was 4.85/10,000.

WA: About one-fifth (19.4%) of all deaths occurred in WA with 222 alcohol-attributable deaths among Indigenous Australians between 2000-2004. The death rate in the WA North region has exceeded the national average in each year presented in the Bulletin. The WA Central and WA South East divisions have significantly exceeded the national average in all but one year.

NT: Almost one-quarter (23.5%) of all deaths occurred in the Northern Territory, with 269 alcohol-attributable deaths among Indigenous Australians between 2000-2004. The death rate in the Northern Territory, in both the NT Central and NT North regions, exceeded the national average in each year presented in the Bulletin.

QLD: One in four (25%) of all deaths occurred in Queensland, with 285 alcohol-attributable deaths among Indigenous Australians between 2000-2004. The death rate in the QLD Far North-West region has exceeded the national average in each year presented in the Bulletin.

SA: South Australia recorded 78 alcohol-attributable deaths among Indigenous Australians between 2000-2004. The death rate in South Australia has exceeded the yearly national average (see page 4 of Bulletin) in each year presented in the Bulletin.

NSW: One-fifth (20%) of all deaths occurred in NSW, with 229 alcohol-attributable deaths among Indigenous Australians between 2000-2004. The comparatively high number of deaths recorded in NSW is a reflection of the proportion of the Indigenous population that lives in the State. The death rate in New South Wales has not exceeded the yearly national average in any year presented in the Bulletin.

Indigenous population: As at 30 June 2001, the Indigenous population of Australia was estimated to be 458,500, representing 2.4% of the total population. That figure was estimated to be 474,310 at the end of 2004.

In 2001, most Indigenous Australians lived in New South Wales (134,900 people or 29% of the total Indigenous population), Queensland (125,900 people or 27%) or Western Australia (65,900 people or 14%).

Cause of death: The NAIP Bulletin contains a breakdown by gender of the five most common causes of alcohol-attributable death among Indigenous Australians. Suicide was the most common cause of death for Indigenous males and alcoholic liver cirrhosis the most common cause of death for Indigenous females. Overall, alcoholic liver cirrhosis was the number one killer and suicide was the second most common cause of alcohol-attributable death.

Haemorrhagic stroke, which was much more common among females than males, assault injury and road traffic injury each caused about 1 in 10 deaths. The average age of death from alcohol-attributable causes is about 35 years.

Comparing Indigenous and non-Indigenous death rates: Between 2000 and 2004, the overall ratio of all alcohol-attributable deaths among Indigenous Australians (4.85/10,000) versus all alcohol-attributable deaths among non-Indigenous Australians (2.40/10,000) was about two to one. A detailed comparison of non-Indigenous versus Indigenous death rates from alcohol-attributable causes will be the subject of a forthcoming bulletin.

Total deaths, 1998-2004: The total number of alcohol-attributable deaths among Indigenous Australians over the entire study period, 1998-2004, was 1607.

SOURCES:
Alcohol killing young Aborigines: report ABC
Indigenous alcohol deaths shock - Sunday Times
Alcohol killed 1145 Indigenous Australians in five years - Media Release NAIP
Alcohol wiping out indigenous Australians - News Ltd
Alcohol killing young Aboriginals - The West