4727.0.55.001 - Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: First Results, Australia, 2012-13  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/11/2013  First Issue
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Contents >> General health >> Self-assessed health status

SELF-ASSESSED HEALTH STATUS


Self-assessed health status is a commonly used measure of overall health. While it may not always be equivalent to health status as measured by a medical professional, it does reflect a person's perception of his or her own health at a given point in time.


RESULTS FROM 2012–13

In 2012–13, around two in five (39%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over assessed their health as excellent or very good (13% and 26% respectively). A further 36% reported good health and 25% rated their health as fair or poor (18% and 7% respectively).

Males were more likely than females to have reported excellent or very good health (43% compared with 36%). Similar proportions of males and females rated their health as fair or poor (24% compared with 26%).

SELF-ASSESSED HEALTH STATUS BY SEX, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people(a)—2012–13
Graph: Self-Assessed Health Status by Sex

In 2012–13, there was no significant difference between the proportions of people reporting excellent/very good health in non-remote and remote areas (40% compared with 38%). However people in non-remote areas were more likely than those in remote areas to have rated their health as fair or poor (26% compared with 21%).

SELF-ASSESSED HEALTH STATUS BY REMOTENESS, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people(a)
—2012–13

Graph: Self-Assessed Health Status by Remoteness

CHANGE OVER TIME

Between 2001 and 2012–13, there were no statistically significant changes at the national level in the proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who rated their health as excellent/very good (from 41% to 39%) or fair/poor (from 26% to 25%).


HOW DO THESE RATES COMPARE WITH THE RATES FOR NON-INDIGENOUS PEOPLE?

After adjusting for differences in age structure between the two populations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were around half as likely as non-Indigenous people to have reported excellent or very good health (rate ratio of 0.6). Conversely, the proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with fair or poor health were at least twice as high as the comparable rates for non-Indigenous people.



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