Data

CURF Data

Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) data was obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to provide a broad spectrum of co-morbidities associated with all Indigenous external causes of death in the NT 1997 - 2005. Of the nine main ICD-10 coded co-morbidities the selection of the five most common co-morbidities for each group was made. This provided a variety of data for external causes of death relating to co-morbid substance use conditions in the context of mental and behavioural disorders. The data was not cross-analysed with suicide deaths because, even at the broad level, the numbers then became too low and too ineffective to be estimated from analysis of “published” data and estimates of the "not-published" data. The "not published" (NPs) items were estimated in accordance with the ABS rules to maintain the confidentialised nature of the data. The NPs were replaced with estimates, that is, ABS uses NP when the value in the cell is one or two (always) and three or four (randomly). This can have some effect on the minutiae of accuracy, but the data is primarily provided to present overall trends in co-morbidity for external causes of death in the Northern Territory. Nevertheless there is a strong correlation between substance abuse and mental and behavioural disorders providing evidence of suicide contagion and the cohort effect of suicide.

> Read more about Prevalence Data

> Read more about Method Data

Articles

> Indigenous Dreaming: How Suicide in the Context of Substance Abuse has Impacted on and Shattered the Dreams and Reality of Indigenous Communities in Northern Territory, Australia

> "Suicide (Echo) Clusters" – Are They Socially Determined, the Result of a Pre-existing Vulnerability in Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory and How Can We Contain Cluster Suicides?