Ebony Liu1, Tim Henderson2, Jamie Craig1, John Landers1

Purpose: Determine the 10-year all-cause mortality and it’s associations among Indigenous Australians living in central Australia 

Method: 1257 patients (93.0%) out of 1347 recruited patients from The Central Australian Ocular Health Study, over the age of 40 years, were available for follow up during a 10-year period. All-cause mortality, associations with age, gender and visual acuity are analyzed and presented.

Results: All-cause mortality was 29.3% at the end of 10 years. As expected, mortality rate increased as age of recruitment increased: 14.2% (40-49 years), 22.6% (50-59), 50.3% (60 years or older) (?=59.15; P<0.00001). Gender was not found to be associated with mortality as an un-adjusted variable, but after adjustment with age and visual acuity, females were 17.0% less likely to die (t=2.09; P=0.037). Reduction in visual acuity was associated with increased mortality rate (5% increased mortality per one line of visual acuity worse; t=4.74; P<0.0001) after adjustment for age, sex and the presence of diabetes and hypertension

Conclusion: This is the first analysis of mortality and its associations with vision among Indigenous Australians. The 10-year all-cause mortality rate of Indigenous Australians over the age of 40 years and living in remote communities of Central Australia was 29.3%. This is more than double that of the Australian population as a whole. Mortality increased by 5% for each  line of visual acuity worse. Further work designed to better understand the mechanism of this association is warranted and may help to reduce this disparity in the future.