Cultural determinants of health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - a narrative overview of reviews.

INTRODUCTION: The cultural determinants of health centre an Indigenous definition of health, and have been linked to positive health and wellbeing outcomes. There is growing evidence for the importance of the cultural determinants of health; however, to date, no high-level overview of the evidence-base has been provided. Synthesising existing literature on cultural determinants of health for Aboriginal peoples in a single manuscript will highlight what we know, and what needs to be explored in future research. It will also contribute to global efforts to capture the evidence of cultural determinant approaches amongst Indigenous populations. We therefore endeavoured to identify cultural determinants and highlight their impact on Aboriginal health and wellbeing outcomes, and outline the relationship and interconnection of different cultural determinants of health. METHODS: An overview of reviews was conducted. Medline (Ovid) and Scopus were searched using terms related to 'cultural determinants of health' and an 'Aboriginal definition of health'. The database search was complemented by a web-based search of grey literature. Nine reviews were retrieved and included in our overview. RESULTS: Family/community, Country and place, cultural identity and self-determination were strongly identified across reviews as having a positive impact on the health and wellbeing outcomes of Aboriginal peoples. Family/community and Country and place were found to be components of 'culture' that shaped cultural identity. Self-determination was outlined as a requirement for Aboriginal peoples to pursue their cultural, social, and economic rights. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: Cultural determinants are associated with health benefits for Indigenous peoples. A causal framework, developed to discuss the relationship and interconnection of the cultural determinants of health, demonstrates that cultural identity at an individual-level is important to benefiting from other cultural determinants of health. While self-determination and connection to culture and community-controlled organisations are integral factors to increase Aboriginal resilience and resistance and improve health and wellbeing outcomes. Further research is required to shift towards a multi-level understanding of the cultural determinants of health and to develop an Indigenous-led evidence-base around causal pathways. Such a shift would ensure priorities important to Indigenous peoples are captured in policy and practice.

Walking the talk: evaluating the alignment between Australian governments' stated principles for working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health contexts and health evaluation practice.

BACKGROUND: Stated principles in government policy documents serve as a set of values outlining how governments intend to work. As such, health planning principles should be reflected in health policy across the cycle of planning, implementation and evaluation. Such principles should be reflected in the process of governments commissioning and funding evaluation, and in the work of those commissioned to do evaluation on behalf of governments. METHODS: We reviewed health planning policy documents to identify principles Australian State and Territory and National governments stated as being important to the work they do within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health contexts. Evaluation tenders and reports relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy, programs and service for the period 1-Jan-2007 to 1-Jan-2017 were retrieved and assessed as to whether they embedded principles governments state as important. RESULTS: In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health planning policy contexts, Australian governments outline shared responsibility, cultural competence, engagement, partnership, capacity building, equity, a holistic concept of health, accountability, and evidence-based as fundamental principles that will underpin the work they will do. In total, we identified 390 publicly advertised evaluation tenders, but were only able to retrieve 18 tenders and 97 reports. Despite strong rhetoric placing importance on the abovementioned principles, these were not consistently embedded in tenders released by government commissioners, nor in reports largely commissioned by governments. Principles most widely incorporated in documents were those corresponding to Closing the Gap - accountability, evidence-based and equity. Principles of holistic concept of health, capacity building, cultural competence and partnership do not appear well applied in evaluation practice. CONCLUSION: Notwithstanding the tensions and criticism of current practice that sees dominant governments policing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations and defining what principles should inform health policy and evaluation practice, this paper reveals shortcomings in current evaluation practice. Firstly, this paper reveals a lack of transparency about current practice, with only 2% of tenders and 25% of reports in the public domain. Secondly, this paper reveals that governments do not 'walk the talk', particularly when it comes to principles relating to Aboriginal participation in health.

Nutritional predictors of successful chronic disease prevention for a community cohort in Central Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate biomarkers of nutrition associated with chronic disease absence for an Aboriginal cohort. DESIGN: Screening for nutritional biomarkers was completed at baseline (1995). Evidence of chronic disease (diabetes, CVD, chronic kidney disease or hypertension) was sought from primary health-care clinics, hospitals and death records over 10 years of follow-up. Principal components analysis was used to group baseline nutritional biomarkers and logistic regression modelling used to investigate associations between the principal components and chronic disease absence. SETTING: Three Central Australian Aboriginal communities. SUBJECTS: Aboriginal people (n 444, 286 of whom were without chronic disease at baseline) aged 15-82 years. RESULTS: Principal components analysis grouped twelve nutritional biomarkers into four components: 'lipids'; 'adiposity'; 'dietary quality'; and 'habitus with inverse quality diet'. For the 286 individuals free of chronic disease at baseline, lower adiposity, lower lipids and better dietary quality components were each associated with the absence at follow-up of most chronic diseases examined, with the exception of chronic kidney disease. Low 'adiposity' component was associated with absence of diabetes, hypertension and CVD at follow-up. Low 'lipid' component was associated with absence of hypertension and CVD, and high 'dietary quality' component was associated with absence of CVD at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Lowering or maintenance of the factors related to 'adiposity' and 'lipids' to healthy thresholds and increasing access to a healthy diet appear useful targets for chronic disease prevention for Aboriginal people in Central Australia.

Clinical outcomes associated with albuminuria in central Australia: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage-kidney disease (ESKD) continue to be under-diagnosed and a major burden for Aboriginal communities in central Australia. The aim of this study was to examine the risk of poor clinical outcomes associated with elevated albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) among Aboriginal people in central Australia. METHODS: Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the risk of end stage kidney disease (ESKD), dialysis, CVD (cardiovascular disease) and mortality associated with participants' baseline albuminuria reading from a 10-year cohort study of Aboriginal people (n = 623) from three communities in central Australia. Predictors of progression of albuminuria were also examined in the context of the Kidney Health Australia (KHA) Risk Matrix. RESULTS: A baseline ACR level of ≥3.5 mg/mmol was associated with an almost 10-fold increased risk of ESKD (95%CI 2.07-43.8) and a 15-fold risk of dialysis (95%CI 1.89-121). Albuminuria ≥3.5 mg/mmol was also associated with a borderline 63 % increased risk of CVD (95%CI 0.98-2.71). No significant association was observed with mortality from all-causes or chronic disease. Diabetes and a waist-to-hip ratio ≥0.90 independently predicted a two-fold increased risk of a progression to higher ACR levels. CONCLUSIONS: A single measure of moderately increased albuminuria was a strong predictor of renal failure in this population. A single spot urine ACR analysis in conjunction with the KHA Risk Matrix may be a useful and efficient strategy to screen for risk of CKD and progression to dialysis in remote communities. A focus on individuals with diabetes and/or central obesity for strategies to avoid increases in albuminuria may also prevent future CKD and CVD complications.

Cardiovascular disease medication health literacy among Indigenous peoples: design and protocol of an intervention trial in Indigenous primary care services.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are leading causes of mortality and morbidity among Indigenous people in New Zealand, Australia and Canada and are a major driver of the inequities in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in these countries. Evidence-based pharmaceutical management of CVD can significantly reduce mortality and morbidity for persons diagnosed with CVD or for those at intermediate or high risk of CVD. Health literacy has been identified as a major barrier in the communication and implementation of appropriate pharmaceutical management plans for CVD. Addressing health literacy is particularly relevant in Indigenous populations where there are unique health and adult literacy challenges. METHODS/DESIGN: This study will examine the effect of a customized, structured CVD medication programme, delivered by health professionals, on the health literacy of Indigenous people with, or at risk, of CVD. Primary outcomes are patient's knowledge about CVD medications; secondary outcomes examine changes in health literacy skills and practices. The study will employ a multi-site pre-post design with multiple measurement points to assess intervention efficacy. Participants will be recruited from four Indigenous primary care services in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Three educational sessions will be delivered over four weeks. A tablet application will support the education sessions and produce a customized pill card for each participant. Participants will be provided with written information about CVD medications. Medication knowledge scores, and specific health literacy skills and practices will be assessed before and after the three sessions. Statistical analyses will identify significant changes in outcomes over each session, and from the pre-session one to post-session three time points. DISCUSSION: This study will make an important contribution to understanding the effect of a structured primary care-based intervention on CVD health literacy in Indigenous populations. The study also illustrates the incorporation of Indigenous health research principles and processes in clinical trials and provides insights that may be useful in other contexts. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ACTRN12612001309875; date of registration 18/12/2012).

Health literacy: health professionals' understandings and their perceptions of barriers that Indigenous patients encounter.

BACKGROUND: Despite the growing interest in health literacy, little research has been done around health professionals' knowledge of health literacy or understandings of the barriers to health literacy that patients face when navigating the health care system. Indigenous peoples in New Zealand (NZ), Canada and Australia experience numerous inequalities in health status and outcomes and international evidence reveals that Indigenous, minority, and socio-economically disadvantaged populations have greater literacy needs. To address concerns in Indigenous health literacy, a two-pronged approach inclusive of both education of health professionals, and structural reform reducing demands the system places on Indigenous patients, are important steps towards reducing these inequalities. METHODS: Four Indigenous health care services were involved in the study. Interviews and one focus group were employed to explore the experiences of health professionals working with patients who had experienced cardiovascular disease (CVD) and were taking medications to prevent future events. A thematic analysis was completed and these insights were used in the development of an intervention that was tested as phase two of the study. RESULTS: Analysis of the data identified ten common themes. This paper concentrates on health professionals' understanding of health literacy and perceptions of barriers that their patients face when accessing healthcare. Health professionals' concepts of health literacy varied and were associated with their perceptions of the barriers that their patients face when attempting to build health literacy skills. These concepts ranged from definitions of health literacy that were focussed on patient deficit to broader definitions that focussed on both patients and the health system. All participants identified a combination of cultural, social and systemic barriers as impediments to their Indigenous patients improving their health literacy knowledge and practices. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that health professionals have a limited understanding of health literacy and of the consequences of low health literacy for their Indigenous patients. This lack of understanding combined with the perceived barriers to improving health literacy limit health professionals' ability to improve their Indigenous patients' health literacy skills and may limit patients' capacity to improve understanding of their illness and instructions on how to manage their health condition/s.

Counting the Ways That Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Older People Participate in Their Communities and Culture.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the proportion of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples participating in cultural events and activities and determine the demographic and sociocultural characteristics associated with participation. METHODS: The Australian Bureau of Statistics National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (2014-2015) was used to measure the prevalence of participation in cultural events and activities. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to measure associations. Sociocultural factors were selected by matching survey items to the 12 sociocultural factors described in the Good Spirit Good Life Framework, a culturally validated quality-of-life tool for older people. RESULTS: The majority (62.0%) of survey respondents 45 years and older participated in cultural events (e.g., ceremonies, funerals/sorry business, NAIDOC week activities, sports carnivals, festivals/carnivals) or were involved in organizations. Many (58.5%) also participated in activities (e.g., fishing, hunting, gathering wild plants/berries, arts/crafts, music/dance/theater, writing/telling of stories). In regression models including demographic and cultural variables, participation in cultural events was highest among people living remotely (odds ratio [OR] = 2.71), reporting recognition of homelands (OR = 2.39), identifying with a cultural group (OR = 3.56), and those reporting having a say in their communities (OR = 1.57), with similar odds seen for participation in activities. Participation was inversely proportional to increasing age, with a greater proportion of females participating in events and males in activities. DISCUSSION: The social lives of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were characterized by widespread participation in cultural events and activities. These findings provide important insights into services as they support older people to live a good life.

Questioning the ethics of evidence-based practice for Indigenous health and social settings in Australia.

Australian government planning promotes evidence-based action as the overarching goal to achieving health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. However, an inequitable distribution of power and resources in the conduct of evidence-based practice produces a policy environment counterintuitive to this goal. This context of contemporary evidence-based practice gives legitimacy to 'expert practitioners' located in Australian governments and universities to use Western guidelines and tools, embedded in Western methodology, to make 'evidence' informed policy and programming decisions about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. This method for decision making assumes a positional superiority that can marginalise the important perspectives, experiences and knowledge of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and their processes for decision making. Here we consider the four steps of an evidence review: (1) developing a review question; (2) acquiring studies; (3) appraising the evidence and (4) assessing the evidence, as components of wider evidence-based practice. We discuss some of the limitations across each step that arise from the broader context within which the evidence review is produced. We propose that an ethical and just approach to evidence-based review can be achieved through a well-resourced Aboriginal community controlled sector, where Aboriginal organisations generate their own evidence and evidence is reviewed using methods and tools that privilege Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, doing and being.

Investigating disparity in access to Australian clinical genetic health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Globally, there is a recognised need that all populations should be able to access the benefits of genomics and precision medicine. However, achieving this remains constrained by a paucity of data that quantifies access to clinical genomics, particularly amongst Indigenous populations. Using administrative data from clinical genetic health services across three Australian jurisdictions (states/territories), we investigate disparities in the scheduling and attendance of appointments among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, compared to non-Indigenous people. For 14,870 appointments scheduled between 2014-2018, adjusted Multivariate Poisson Regression models revealed that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people were scheduled fewer appointments (IRR 0.73 [0.68-0.80], <0.001) and attended at lower rates (IRR 0.85 [0.78-0.93], <0.001). Within this population, adults, females, remote residents, and those presenting in relation to cancer or prenatal indications experienced the greatest disparity in access. These results provide important baseline data related to disparities in access to clinical genomics in Australia.

Racism and health among urban Aboriginal young people.

BACKGROUND: Racism has been identified as an important determinant of health but few studies have explored associations between racism and health outcomes for Australian Aboriginal young people in urban areas. METHODS: Cross sectional data from participants aged 12-26 years in Wave 1 of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service's Young People's Project were included in hierarchical logistic regression models. Overall mental health, depression and general health were all considered as outcomes with self-reported racism as the exposure, adjusting for a range of relevant confounders. RESULTS: Racism was reported by a high proportion (52.3%) of participants in this study. Self-reported racism was significantly associated with poor overall mental health (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.25-5.70, p = 0.01) and poor general health (OR 2.17, 95% CI 1.03-4.57, p = 0.04), and marginally associated with increased depression (OR 2.0; 95% CI 0.97-4.09, p = 0.06) in the multivariate models. Number of worries and number of friends were both found to be effect modifiers for the association between self-reported racism and overall mental health. Getting angry at racist remarks was found to mediate the relationship between self-reported racism and general health. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the need to acknowledge and address racism as an important determinant of health and wellbeing for Aboriginal young people in urban areas of Australia.

Collaborative Social-Epidemiology: A Co-analysis of the Cultural and Structural Determinants of Health for Aboriginal Youth in Victorian Schools.

Social-epidemiology that excludes Aboriginal voices often fails to capture the full and complex social worlds of Aboriginal people. Using data from an existing co-designed Victorian government Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey (2008/9), we worked with Aboriginal organizations to identify data priorities, select measures, interpret data, and contextualize findings. Using this participatory co-analysis approach, we selected "cultural" and "structural" determinants identified by Aboriginal organizations as important and modelled these using principal component analysis. Resulting components were then modelled using logistic regression to investigate associations with "likely being well" (Kessler-10 score < 20) for 88 Aboriginal adolescents aged 11-17 years. Principal component analysis grouped 11 structural variables into four components and 11 cultural variables into three components. Of these, "grew up in Aboriginal family/community and connected" associated with significantly higher odds of "likely being well" (OR = 2.26 (1.01-5.06), p = 0.046). Conversely, "institutionally imposed family displacement" had significantly lower odds (OR = 0.49 (0.24-0.97), p = 0.040) and "negative police contact and poverty" non-significantly lower odds (OR = 0.53 (0.26-1.06), p = 0.073) for "likely being well". Using a co-analysis participatory approach, the voices of Aboriginal researchers and Aboriginal organizations were able to construct a social world that aligned with their ways of knowing, doing, and being. Findings highlighted institutionally imposed family displacement, policing, and poverty as social sites for health intervention and emphasized the importance of strong Aboriginal families for adolescents.

Effect of a health literacy intervention trial on knowledge about cardiovascular disease medications among Indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of a customised, structured cardiovascular disease (CVD) medication health literacy programme on medication knowledge among Indigenous people with, or at high risk of, CVD. DESIGN: Intervention trial with premeasures and postmeasures at multiple time points. SETTING: Indigenous primary care services in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS: 171 Indigenous people aged ≥20 years of age who had at least one clinical diagnosis of a CVD event, or in Canada and Australia had a 5-year CVD risk ≥15%, and were prescribed at least two of the following CVD medication classes: statin, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta blockers. INTERVENTION: An education session delivered on three occasions over 1 month by registered nurses or health educators who had received training in health literacy and principles of adult education. An interactive tablet application was used during each session and an information booklet and pill card provided to participants. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Knowledge about the CVD medications assessed before and after each session. RESULTS: Knowledge at baseline (presession 1) was low, with the mean per cent correct answers highest for statins (34.0% correct answers), 29.4% for aspirin, 26.0% for beta blockers and 22.7% for ACE inhibitors. Adjusted analyses showed highly significant (P<0.001) increases in knowledge scores between preassessments and postassessments at all three time points for all medication classes. For the four medications, the absolute increases in adjusted per cent correct items from presession 1 to postsession 3 assessments were 60.1% for statins, 76.8% for aspirin, 71.4% for ACE inhibitor and 69.5% for beta blocker. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention was highly effective in contextually diverse Indigenous primary healthcare services in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The findings from this study have important implications for health services working with populations with low health literacy more generally. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12612001309875.

Economic rationalisation of health behaviours: the dangers of attempting policy discussions in a vacuum.

When analysing the health behaviours of any group of people, understanding the constraints and possibilities for individual agency as shaped by the broader societal context is critical. In recent decades, our understanding of the ways in which physical and social environments influence health and health behaviours has expanded greatly. The authors of a recent analysis of Australian Aboriginal health data using an economic 'rational choice model,' published in this journal, claim to make a useful contribution to policy discussions relating to Aboriginal health, but neglect context. By doing so, they neglect the very factors that determine the success or failure of policy change. Notwithstanding the technical sophistication of the analyses, by ignoring most relevant determinants of health, the conclusions misrepresent the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and therefore risk perpetuating harm, rather than improving health.

Suicide ideation and attempt in a community cohort of urban Aboriginal youth: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: There has been increasing attention over the last decade on the issue of indigenous youth suicide. A number of studies have documented the high prevalence of suicide behavior and mortality in Australia and internationally. However, no studies have focused on documenting the correlates of suicide behavior for indigenous youth in Australia. AIMS: To examine the prevalence of suicide ideation and attempt and the associated factors for a community1 cohort of Koori2 (Aboriginal) youth. METHOD: Data were obtained from the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) Young People's Project (YPP), a community initiated cross-sectional data set. In 1997/1998, self-reported data were collected for 172 Koori youth aged 12-26 years living in Melbourne, Australia. The data were analyzed to assess the prevalence of current suicide ideation and lifetime suicide attempt. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to identify closely associated social, emotional, behavioral, and cultural variables at baseline and Cox regression modeling was then used to identify associations between PCA components and suicide ideation and attempt. RESULTS: Ideation and attempt were reported at 23.3% and 24.4%, respectively. PCA yielded five components: (1) emotional distress, (2) social distress A, (3) social distress B, (4) cultural connection, (5) behavioral. All were positively and independently associated with suicide ideation and attempt, while cultural connection showed a negative association. CONCLUSIONS: Suicide ideation and attempt were common in this cross-section of indigenous youth with an unfavorable profile for the emotional, social, cultural, and behavioral factors.

Exploring clinical predictors of cardiovascular disease in a central Australian Aboriginal cohort.

INTRODUCTION: For Aboriginal populations, predicting individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is difficult due to limitations and inaccuracy in existing risk-prediction algorithms. We examined conventional and novel risk factors associated with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome and assessed their relationships with subsequent CVD events. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort. METHODS: Aboriginal people (n = 739) from Central Australia completed population-based risk-factor surveys in 1995 and were followed up in 2005. Principal components analysis (PCA), regression and univariate analyses (using ROC defined cut-off points) were used to identify useful clinical predictors of primary CVD. RESULTS: PCA yielded five components: (1) lipids and liver function; (2) insulin resistance; (3) blood pressure and kidney function; (4) glucose tolerance; and (5) anti-inflammatory (low fibrinogen, high HDL cholesterol). Components 2, 3 and 4, and age were significant independent predictors of incident CVD, and smoking approached significance. In univariate analysis fasting glucose ≥ 4.8 mmol/l, total:HDL cholesterol ratio ≥ 5.7, non-HDL cholesterol ≥ 4.3 mmol/l, gamma-glutamyl transferase ≥ 70 U/l, albumin creatinine ratio ≥ 5.7 mg/mmol, systolic blood pressure ≥ 120 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure ≥ 70 mmHg were useful predictors of CVD. The co-occurrence of three or more risk variables (fasting glucose ≥ 4.8 mmol/l, total:HDL cholesterol ratio ≥ 5.7, blood pressure (systolic ≥ 120 mmHg; diastolic ≥ 70 mmHg; albumin:creatinine ratio ≥ 5.7 mg/mmol and smoking) had sensitivity of 82.0% and specificity of 59.9% for predicting incident CVD. CONCLUSION: Age is the strongest predictor of CVD for this population. For clinical identification of individuals at high risk, screening for the combination of three or more of hyperglycaemia, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, albuminuria and smoking may prove a useful and efficient strategy.

The metabolic syndrome and CVD outcomes for a central Australian cohort.

We investigated if the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its component risk factors predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) for Aboriginal people from central Australia. WHO (HR 2.83), NCEP (1.80) and IDF (2.47) definitions of the MetS all had positive associations with CVD, however offered little above individual MetS components for hyperglycaemia.

Lipid treatment guidelines and cardiovascular risk for Aboriginal people in Central Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the extent to which the current Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) guidelines for patient eligibility for lipid-lowering medication are applicable to Aboriginal people in Central Australia. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A 10-year cohort study of 659 Aboriginal people who participated in population-based cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor surveys in 1995 and who were free of CVD at baseline, for the period from 1995 to 2004-2005 or until first CVD event. Evidence of atherosclerotic CVD (ischaemic heart disease, ischaemic stroke, and peripheral vascular disease) was sought from hospital, primary health care and death records. PBS eligibility was assigned according to the current PBS criteria, which were amended in 2006 to include Aboriginal-specific criteria, using participants' baseline (1995) and 10-year follow-up data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportions of PBS-eligible and PBS-ineligible participants who had CVD events during the study period; sensitivity and specificity of the criteria. RESULTS: Of 42 participants who had CVD events during the study period, 35 were PBS-eligible (incidence, 1130/100 000 person-years; relative risk compared with PBS-ineligible population, 4.87 [95% CI, 2.19-10.80]) and seven were PBS-ineligible. PBS eligibility was associated with older mean age (37 v 32 years) and male sex (48% v 37%), with 50.7% of participants (334/659) meeting eligibility criteria. The mean high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level at baseline was very low in both groups (0.81 v 0.87 mmol/L). The current PBS guidelines have low specificity (52%) in this population, which was found to improve (to 71%-82%) by incorporating additional non-lipid criteria (age and multiple non-lipid risk factors). CONCLUSION: The current PBS lipid treatment criteria, which include any Aboriginal person with diabetes and less stringent cholesterol thresholds than the previous version, identify a group at very high risk of CVD. Global risk assessment may better identify those at risk.