How do hospitalisation rates of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people compare?
Of the 2.86 million hospital separations recorded in Queensland, WA, SA and the NY during 2005-06, 184,232 (6.4%) were identified as Indigenous [2] The age-standardised separation rate of 1,039 separations per 1,000 for the Indigenous population was almost three times that of the non-Indigenous population (352 per 1,000). Separation rates were higher for Indigenous people than for non-Indigenous people for virtually all age groups, with the highest differences in the middle adult years [2]. There was a higher proportion of separations for Indigenous females (57%) than Indigenous males, and this proportion was higher than the proportion of females overall (53%). The highest age-standardised separation rate for Indigenous persons was in the Northern Territory (1,548 per 1,000), with a rate 6.5 times that of non-Indigenous people [2]. For patients identified as Indigenous, almost 40% of separations were for overnight stays compared with 45% for all patients [2].
