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Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aged 18-64 years, 2004-05.*

From: Socioeconomic status and self-reported asthma in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian adults aged 18-64 years: analysis of national survey data

 

Indigenous

% (95% CI)†

Non-Indigenous

% (95% CI)†

Age (years)

  

   18-24

23.1 (21.7-24.4)

15.1 (14.8-15.4)

   25-34

28.4 (27.7-29.0)

22.4 (22.3-22.6)

   35-44

24.0 (23.5-24.5)

23.5 (23.4-23.7)

   45-54

16.1 (15.7-16.4)

22.0 (21.8-22.1)

   55-64

8.5 (7.1-9.9)

17.0 (16.9-17.1)

Sex

  

   Male

46.8 (45.6-47.9)

49.8 (49.6-50.1)

   Female

53.2 (52.1-54.4)

50.2 (49.9-50.4)

Main language spoken at home

  

   English

86.0 (84.5-87.5)

90.8 (89.9-91.7)

   Not English

14.0 (12.5-15.5)

9.2 (8.3-10.1)

Highest year of school completed

  

   Year 12

23.5 (21.2-25.8)

52.5 (51.2-53.8)

   Year 11

13.0 (11.7-14.4)

10.9 (10.3-11.6)

   Year 10

31.2 (29.4-33.1)

24.7 (23.7-25.7)

   Year 9

13.9 (12.5-15.3)

6.3 (5.8-6.7)

   ≤Year 8 or never went to school

18.3 (16.7-20.0)

5.6 (5.1-6.1)

Level of highest non-school qualification

  

   Post-graduate degree

1.9 (1.0-2.7)

6.2 (5.8-6.7)

   Bachelor's degree

2.9 (2.3-3.6)

14.5 (13.8-15.3)

   Diploma

4.7 (3.7-5.7)

9.7 (9.1-10.3)

   Certificate

24.2 (22.2-26.1)

26.0 (25.0-27.1)

   No qualifications

66.4 (64.1-68.6)

43.5 (42.5-44.5)

Employment status

  

   Employed

54.7 (52.2-57.1)

76.1 (75.3-76.8)

   Unemployed

8.1 (6.9-9.2)

3.0 (2.7-3.4)

   Not in the labour force

37.3 (35.0-39.6)

20.9 (20.1-21.7)

Housing tenure

  

   Owner/purchaser‡

24.7 (22.1-27.3)

n/a§

   Renter/other tenure

75.3 (72.7-77.9)

n/a§

Equivalised household income quintile||

  

   1 (lowest)

33.7 (31.4-36.1)

11.3 (10.7-11.9)

   2

21.6 (19.7-23.6)

13.1 (12.5-13.8)

   3

14.3 (12.4-16.1)

16.9 (16.1-17.6)

   4

9.4 (7.7-11.2)

19.5 (18.7-20.2)

   5 (highest)

5.2 (4.0-6.4)

21.7 (20.7-22.7)

   Not known or not stated

15.6 (13.6-17.6)

17.5 (16.6-18.4)

Reported food insecurity**

  

   Yes

24.6 (22.7-26.6)

5.6 (5.1-6.0)

   No

75.4 (73.4-77.3)

94.4 (94.0-94.9)

SEIFA quintile††

  

   1 (most disadvantaged)

49.3 (43.7-55.0)

17.1 (15.7-18.5)

   2

19.3 (15.2-23.3)

19.0 (17.4-20.7)

   3

18.5 (14.3-22.7)

20.3 (18.4-22.2)

   4

9.0 (6.4-11.6)

21.3 (19.5-23.0)

   5 (least disadvantaged)

3.9 (2.2-5.7)

22.3 (20.0-24.7)

Area of residence‡‡

  

   Major cities

30.6 (29.1-32.0)

70.2 (68.6-71.8)

   Inner regional

20.1 (19.0-21.3)

19.5 (17.9-21.0)

   Outer regional

21.5 (20.4-22.5)

10.4 (9.2-11.5)

   Remote or very remote

27.8 (26.3-29.4)

---§§

Smoking status

  

   Current smoker

53.5 (51.2-55.8)

25.7 (24.8-26.7)

   Former smoker

16.8 (15.1-18.5)

23.2 (22.4-24.1)

   Never smoker

29.7 (27.6-31.9)

51.0 (49.7-52.3)

  1. * Weighted data from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2004-05 confidentialised unit record file (CURF) [14].
  2. † CI, confidence interval. Proportions are weighted to provide population estimates. Totals are based on those with non-missing data, except for equivalised household income, for which a separate category is shown.
  3. ‡ Includes ownership/purchase by any of the dwelling's occupants (not necessarily the respondent) [15, 17].
  4. § n/a, not available.
  5. || Gross weekly equivalised cash income of household, which takes into account household size and composition, was estimated using the OECD scale [15, 17]. Quintiles were determined based on all-Australian figures. That is, the same category boundaries were used for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants.
  6. ** Food insecurity was based on the response to a question about whether, in the past 12 months, the respondent had run out of food and couldn't afford to buy more [15].
  7. †† SEIFA, Socioeconomic Index for Areas, Index of Relative Disadvantage. SEIFA quintile was based on the 2001 score for the CD of the selected dwelling and is used as a measure of area-level disadvantage [15, 17]. Quintiles were determined based on all-Australian figures. That is, the same category boundaries were used for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous respondents.
  8. ‡‡ Classified according to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification remoteness classification (based on the ARIA+ index) [15, 17].
  9. §§ Out of scope - not included in the survey [14, 15].
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International Journal for Equity in Health

ISSN: 1475-9276

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