Indigenous Cardiac Outreach program cohort for diabetes control

Aim

ICOP is an innovative multidisciplinary community-driven and culturally sensitive tertiary specialist program with the aim to ‘close the gap’ of cardiac care in remote and rural Indigenous communities

Outcomes

We showed that in rheumatic heart disease, even though much work was done, there is still much to do to address the gap. Whereas, in lipid profiles, lipid profiles of the patients with established atherosclerotic disease in our cohort were comparable with the ones in developed countries (57 per cent achieved target LDL of less than 1.8 mmol/L). Diabetes control in our cohort was significantly better than previously demonstrated in rural and remote Indigenous communities.

Background

Diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases which disproportionately affects remote and rural communities especially Australian Indigenous communities.

Discussion

Several evaluations were undertaken to define the progress of ICOP in addressing the gap of care, including an audit in rheumatic heart disease in our program. I presented the result of the project as part of oral presentation at Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand Meeting. There was another audit investigating the lipid profiles of ICOP cohort, in which we presented at 3rd World Congress of Lipidology as part of oral presentation. In addition, we have investigated diabetes control in our cohort, as detailed in our abstract submission.

Lessons learnt

An intensive yet culturally sensitive program can provide a strong platform to bridge the gap in Indigenous Cardiovascular Health.