During 2013-2017, the mortality rate ratio for rheumatic heart disease among Indigenous versus non-Indigenous persons in Australia was 15.9, reflecting health inequity. Using excess mortality methods, we found that deaths associated with rheumatic heart disease among Indigenous Australians were probably substantially undercounted, affecting accuracy of calculations based solely on Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
Keywords: Australia; Rheumatic heart disease; Streptococcus pyogenes; bacteria; cardiovascular diseases; epidemiology; excess deaths; mortality.