Government and Regulations
Native Americans Address LGBT Health Issues
IHS discusses the advancement of health needs for American Indian/Alaska Natives within the LGBT community.
Alcohol-related death rates were 520% higher among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people in the U.S. from 2007 to 2009 compared with those of all races in 2008. That stunning statistic comes from the latest edition of the Trends in Indian Health report and is only one of many equally alarming findings: Tuberculosis rates were 450% greater; chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, 368% greater; motor vehicle crashes, 207% greater; diabetes mellitus, 177% greater. And the list goes on.
The age-adjusted death rates for all causes of death during that 2-year period was 1.2 times the rate for all races in the U.S. The age-specific death rate for AI/ANs more than doubled that of all races in the U.S. for ages 1 though 44 years.
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American Indian/Alaska Native men were most likely to die of heart disease, followed by malignant neoplasms; in women, that was reversed to malignant neoplasms, followed by heart disease. (These are also the 2 most prevalent causes of death for all races in the U.S., the report notes.) When the data were broken down by age, unintentional injuries and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis were the leading causes of AI/AN death for ages 25 to 44 years. Of all AI/AN people who died during 2007 to 2009, 25% were aged < 45 years, compared with 15% of blacks and 7% of whites.
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In contrast, Alzheimer disease, HIV infection, and major cardiovascular disease were all lower among AI/ANs compared with those of all races. And the age-adjusted rate of deaths due to firearms dropped from 26% in 1979 to 1981 to 12% in 2007 to 2009; however, that rate is still 1.2 times greater than the 10% rate for all races in 2008. Similarly, although the rate of death due to chronic liver disease and cirrhosis declined from 72% in 1979 to 1981 to 43% in 2007 to 2009, that 43% rate is still nearly 5 times higher than the rate in the rest of the U.S. population.
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The report points out that a variety of programs are tackling the disturbingly high death rates. For instance, the IHS Injury Prevention Program helped reduce unintentional injury deaths between 1973 and 2003 by 58% with initiatives such as the Ride Safe Program, which targets motor vehicle-related injuries to children.
The vital event statistics were derived from various National Center for Health Statistics publications, patient care statistics from IHS reporting systems, and some unpublished data from IHS. To see the entire report, visit http://www.ihs.gov/dps/index.cfm/publications/trends2014.