Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
In 2019, there were 57 deaths of Indigenous Australians where epilepsy was recorded as either the underlying or associated cause. The death rate (underlying or associated cause) was higher for Indigenous males than it was for females (13.1 and 10.5 deaths per 100,000, respectively). Due to data quality issues, these data include people residing in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory only.
After adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations, the rate of deaths of people with epilepsy was over three times as high among Indigenous Australians as non-Indigenous Australians (12.1 and 3.5 deaths per 100,000, respectively).
The gap in death rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians was similar for females and males.
References
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) 2016. Australian Burden of Disease Study 2011: methods and supplementary material. Cat. no. BOD 6. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2019. Australian Burden of Disease Study: methods and supplementary material 2015. Cat. no. BOD 23. Canberra: AIHW.
Moran NF, Poole K, Bell G, Solomon J, Kendall S, McCarthy M et al. 2004. Epilepsy in the United Kingdom: seizure frequency and severity, anti-epileptic drug utilization and impact on life in 1652 people with epilepsy. Seizure 13(6):425-33, doi:10.1016/j.seizure.2003.10.002.