This indicator reports on the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with type 2 diabetes who had a blood pressure test in the previous 6 months and are regular clients attending Indigenous specific primary health care services. The goal for this indicator is 70% by 2023.
Why is it important?
Chronic conditions, including diabetes, are the leading causes of illness, disability and death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Effective management and monitoring of diabetes, including regular blood pressure tests, can delay the progression of disease, improve quality of life and increase life expectancy.
What data are available?
In the absence of national data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with type 2 diabetes who have regular blood pressure tests, this indicator uses data from the Indigenous primary health care national Key Performance Indicators (nKPIs) data collection. These data pertain to Indigenous regular clients. A regular client is defined as a client who has attended the primary health care organisation at least 3 times in the last 2 years.
What do the data show?
Progress towards the goal is not on track.
- The proportion of Indigenous regular clients with type 2 diabetes who had their blood pressure result recorded with the previous 6 months increased from 64% in June 2017 to 66% in December 2019.
- From June 2017, the rates were consistently below the trajectory required to meet the goal in 2023.
Nationally, in December 2019, among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander regular clients with type 2 diabetes:
- 66% had their blood pressure result recorded within the previous 6 months, which is below the trajectory point (68%) required to meet the goal for 2023.
- the proportion who had their blood pressure result recorded was lowest in the Northern Territory (62%) and highest in Western Australia (72%).