Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T00:29:46.904Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Variability in behavioural risk factors for heart disease in an Australian Aboriginal community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Robert S. Hogg
Robert S. Hogg
Affiliation:
Demography Programme, Division of Demography and Sociology, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The variability of three behavioural risk factors for heart disease—heavy alcohol and tobacco consumption and physical inactivity—was assessed in an Australian Aboriginal community, where heart disease death rates were high. Prevalence levels were assessed by comparison with those experienced by all adult Australians and by evaluating whether Aboriginal rates were influenced by underlying sociodemographic conditions. Relative risk ratios, odds ratios and logistic regression analysis were used.

A total of 159 males and 114 females participated. Compared to all Australians, Aborigines are significantly more likely to drink five or more drinks on a drinking day, to be current smokers, and not to participate in vigorous exercise. In the Aboriginal community, univariate analysis indicates that: the odds of being a heavy drinker are significantly higher for those in unsatisfactory health; odds of being a current smoker are significantly higher for those in unsatisfactory health or unemployed; odds of not participating in vigorous exercise are significantly higher for those in unsatisfactory health, unemployed or without secondary education. Multivariate analysis shows that risk of being a heavy drinker is independently associated with sex, age, and health status; risk of being a current smoker is associated with health and employment status. The risk of not participating in vigorous exercise is significantly related to all sociodemographic variables examined. Reasons for these associations are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , October 1994 , pp. 539 - 551
Copyright
Copyright © 1994, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bray, G. A. (1985) Obesity: definition, diagnosis and disadvantages. Med. J. Aust. (Suppl). 142, S2.Google Scholar
Fienberg, R. (1977) The Analysis of Cross-Classified Categorical Data. MIT Press, Cambridgex, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Gray, A. & Hogg, R. (1989) Mortality of Aboriginal Australians in Western New South Wales 1984–1987. New South Wales Department of Health, Sydney.Google Scholar
Health Department of Western Australia (1985) Aboriginal Morbidity and Mortality in Western Australia. Health Department of Western Australia, Perth.Google Scholar
Hogg, R. S.(1991) Australian Aboriginal Mortality and Coronary Heart Disease: A Demographic Inquiry. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
Hogg, R. S.(1992) Indigenous mortality: placing Australian Aboriginal mortality in a broader context. Social Sci. Med. 35, 335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honari, M. (1990) Causes of Aboriginal mortality. In: A Matter of Life and Death. Contemporary Aboriginal Mortality, p. 139. Edited by Gray, A. Aboriginal Studies Press,Canberra.Google Scholar
Kamien, M. (1975) The Doctor as an Agent of Change: An Action Oriented Epidemiological and Sociological Study of the Health of A Rural Aboriginal Community. PhD thesis, University of New South Wales, Sydney.Google Scholar
Lincoln, R. A., Najman, J. M., Wilson, P. R. & Matis, C. P. (1983) Mortality rates in 14 Queensland Aboriginal reserve communities. Med. J. Aust. 1, 357.Google ScholarPubMed
Millar, B. D.& Beard, T. C. (1988) Avoidance of dietary sodium— a simple questionnaire. Med. J. Aust. 149, 190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mobbs, R. (1991) In sickness and health: the sociocultural context of Aboriginal well being, illness, and healing. In: The Health of Aboriginal Australia, p. 292. Edited by Reid, J.Trompf, P.. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,Sydney.Google Scholar
Nathan, P. (1980) A Home Away from Home: A Study of the Aboriginal Health Service in Fitzroy, Victoria. PIT Press, Bundoora.Google Scholar
National Heart Foundation (1990) Risk Factor Prevalence Study, Report No. 3— 1989. National Heart Foundation, Canberra.Google Scholar
Plant, A. J. (1988) Aboriginal Mortality in the Northern Territory, 1977–1983. MPH thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney.Google Scholar
Rode, A. & Shepard, R. J. (1984) Ten years of ‘civilization’:fitness of Canadian Inuit. J. appl. Physiol. 56, 1472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rose, G. A. (1962) The diagnosis of ischaemic heart pain and intermittent claudication in field surveys. Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 27, 645.Google ScholarPubMed
Sibthorpe, B. (1988) All Our People Are Dyin: Diet and Stress in an Urban AboriginalCommunity. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
Simons, L., Whish, P.., Marr, B., Jones, A. & Simons, J. (1981) Coronary risk factors in a rural community which includes Aborigines: Inverell heart disease prevention programme. Aust.N.Z. J. Med. 11, 386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, L., Thomson, N. & Gray, A. (1983) Aboriginal Mortality in NSW Country Regions, 1980–1981. New South Wales Department of Health, Sydney.Google Scholar
Stephenson, J. & Lenz, P. (1990) Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Screening, Wilcannia, October, 1989. Orana and Far West Region, NSW. Health Report No. 5, Health Promotion Unit, Dubbo.Google Scholar
Verbrugge, L. M. (1983) The social role of the sexes and their relative health and mortality. In: Sex Differentials in Mortality: Trends, Determinants, and Consequences, p. 221. Edited by Lopez, A. & Ruzicka, L.Department of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
Woolf, B. (1955) On estimating the relation between blood group and disease. Ann. hum. Genet., 19, 251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization Health Education Unit (1986) Life-styles and health. Social Sci. Med. 22, 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, T. K. (1991) Prevalence and correlates of hypertension in a subarctic Indian population. Prev. Med. 20, 474.Google Scholar