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The age distribution of the Indigenous population is
shaped by the patterns of health and illness, and in turn impacts on these patterns. In
making comparisons between different populations, the impact of differing age
distributions on patterns of health and illness can be adjusted for through age
standardisation, such as in Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMRs). The age distribution
of the Indigenous population is more typical of that of a developing country, and this
population is subject to many diseases more common to developing countries. At the same
time, after adjusting for the relatively young age distribution of the Indigenous
population, many so called “diseases of aging”, or chronic diseases which occur more
commonly in affluent countries, occur at relatively high rates. They also occur at a
relatively younger age in Indigenous people. |
