Background

Burden of disease analysis measures the impact of living with and dying prematurely from different diseases or injuries. The First Nations Burden of Disease Study (FNBDS) 2022 estimated the health impact of 220 diseases and injuries on the First Nations population in Australia.

Methods

The FNBDS quantifies years of healthy life lost from living with (non-fatal) and dying prematurely from (fatal) disease and injury. Fatal and non-fatal burden combined provides the total burden, measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALY).

Results

In 2022, about 317,000 years of healthy life were lost among the First Nations population. This was split evenly between living with illness or injury and dying prematurely (each contributing 50%). Overall, there was a 6.3% decrease in the age-standardised DALY rate between 2011 and 2022, from 457 to 429 DALY per 1,000 people – driven by an 11% decrease in the rate of fatal burden.

In 2022, the 5 disease groups causing the most burden were mental health conditions & substance use disorders, injuries, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and respiratory diseases. Together these accounted for around two-thirds (62%) of the total burden. When considering individual diseases, coronary heart disease was the leading cause of burden among First Nations people in both 2011 and 2022, however the age-standardised DALY rate fell by 30% between 2011 and 2022 (from 45 to 32 DALY per 1,000 people). The extent of disparity in the disease burden between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians and by geographic areas will be also presented. 

Conclusions

Summarising the impact of different diseases and injuries in a comparable way allows monitoring of First Nations population health, highlights potential areas or disease groups where improvements can be made, and provides an evidence base to inform health policy and service planning.