Reference: 2011-016 - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Measures Survey

Researchers: Dr Paul Jelfs, Juanita Pettit (Australian Bureau of Statistics)

Funding:Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing

Project summary: The Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (AATSIHS) is a new Australian Bureau of Statistics information collection, funded by the ABS, Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA), and the National Heart Foundation of Australia. A significant component of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey is the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Measures Survey (NATSIHMS) – a collection of biomedical information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents.

The NATSIHMS aims to measure markers for chronic disease and nutrition status derived from tests on blood and urine biospecimens (samples) from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents from both remote and non-remote localities. It is important to note that participation in this component of the survey is voluntary and requires explicit consent by the respondent.

The resultant information from this survey will establish population benchmarks for these tests; provide information to assess health risks for population groups and to provide a platform for further research into health patterns. This will be achieved by combining the results of objective biomedical tests with self-reported survey-based results. With a number of these health risk factors being collectively responsible for shortening the lives of so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, comparisons with the general population* will support assessment of progress in Closing the Gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes.
There are no specific hypotheses established for testing in this survey, rather it is an establishment of a public health data base of objective measures of chronic disease and nutrition status indicators for descriptive purposes and creating an opportunity for a wide range of data users to access the data under controlled mechanisms to explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health issues. These further users of the data may have specific hypotheses that will be tested.

*ABS is currently conducting a biomedical survey in the general population as part of the Australian Health Survey. This biomedical component is known as the National Health Measures Survey (NHMS).

Progress: Completed in 2014