Trends in the incidence of aged care program utilisation by older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 2010-2019
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(Published version)
Date
2026
Authors
Humphrey, G.
Caughey, G.E.
Air, T.
Bradley, C.
Tunny, N.
Brown, A.
Wesselingh, S.
Inacio, M.C.
Pearson, O.
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Journal article
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Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2026; 50(1):100294-1-100294-7
Statement of Responsibility
Greer Humphrey, Gillian E. Caughey, Tracy Air, Clare Bradley, Noeleen Tunny, Alex Brown, Steve Wesselingh, Maria C. Inacio, Odette Pearson, the ROSA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Steering Committee
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Abstract
Objective To study the trends in incident aged care service use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Methods Annual incidence of aged care use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (2010–2019) were evaluated using the Registry of Senior Australians Historical Cohort and Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates. Trends were examined by incident rate ratios (IRRs) using Poisson or negative binomial regression adjusted for age, sex and remoteness. Results Among 15,106 individuals, incident aged care assessments increased from 10.6/1000 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.7–11.1) in 2010 to 14.6/1000 (95%CI: 14.0–15.2) in 2019 (IRR=1.04/year, 95%CI: 1.03–1.05). Incident aged care service use increased from 7.4/1000 (95%CI: 6.8–8.0) to 9.7/1000 (95%CI: 9.2–10.2; IRR=1.02/year, 95%CI: 1.01–1.03). Increases occurred in metropolitan and regional areas, with the greatest increase observed for home care packages (≥8% annually). In remote areas, the use of home care packages decreased by ≥5% annually. Conclusions Increased use of aged care programs is encouraging. However, declining use in remote areas highlight the need for improved access to aged care.
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© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Public Health Association of Australia. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creati vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).