Sociodemographic and geographical inequalities in notifiable infectious diseases in Australia: a retrospective analysis of 21 years of national disease surveillance data

Abstract

Background Australia is a high-income country with a well established and largely publicly funded health-care system. However, some populations within Australia have shorter life expectancy and worse health outcomes than others. We explored geographical variations and sociodemographic inequities in infectious disease notifications in Australia. Methods In this retrospective study, we analysed National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) notifications from 1991–2011 (n=2·4 million). We assessed the effect of socioeconomic disadvantage and remoteness of residence on national notification incidence. We calculated Gini coefficients, adjusted relative risks (aRRs), population attribut..