Working Towards Eye Health Equity for Indigenous Australians with Diabetes

Jose J. Estevez, Natasha J. Howard, Jamie E. Craig and Alex Brown
Additional contact information
Jose J. Estevez: Wardliparingga Aboriginal Health Equity Theme, South Australia Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia
Natasha J. Howard: Wardliparingga Aboriginal Health Equity Theme, South Australia Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia
Jamie E. Craig: Flinders Centre for Ophthalmology, Eye and Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, Flinders University, Adelaide SA 5042, Australia
Alex Brown: Wardliparingga Aboriginal Health Equity Theme, South Australia Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-6

Abstract: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) poses significant challenges to individuals and broader society, much of which is borne by disadvantaged and marginalised population groups including Indigenous people. The increasing prevalence of T2DM among Indigenous people has meant that rates of diabetes-related complications such as blindness from end-stage diabetic retinopathy (DR) continue to be important health concerns. Australia, a high-income and resource-rich country, continues to struggle to adequately respond to the health needs of its Indigenous people living with T2DM. Trends among Indigenous Australians highlight that the prevalence of DR has almost doubled over two decades, and the prevalence of diabetes-related vision impairment is consistently reported to be higher among Indigenous Australians (5.2%–26.5%) compared to non-Indigenous Australians (1.7%). While Australia has collated reliable estimates of the eye health burden owing to T2DM in its Indigenous population, there is fragmentation of existing data and limited knowledge on the underlying risk factors. Taking a systems approach that investigates the social, environmental, clinical, biological and genetic risk factors, and—importantly—integrates these data, may give valuable insights into the most important determinants contributing to the development of diabetes-related blindness. This knowledge is a crucial initial step to reducing the human and societal impacts of blindness on Indigenous Australians, other priority populations and society at large.

Keywords: Indigenous Australians; blindness; diabetic retinopathy; vision impairment; eye health; equity; inequality; vision loss; diabetes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5060/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5060/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:24:p:5060-:d:296925

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().