Turning the tide on bronchiectasis in adult Aboriginal Australians: from neglect to action

Subash S Heraganahally^{1

2

3

4

5}, Timothy Howarth^{3

4

6}, Sanjana Heraganahally⁷, Dayna Duncan^{1

2

8}, Winnie Chen^{2

9}, Payi L Ford^{10

11}, Lisa Sorger^{12

13}, Simone Barry^{5

14}, Lucy Burr^{5

15

16}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
² College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
³ Faculty of Health, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁴ Darwin Respiratory and Sleep Health, Darwin Private Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁵ Australasian Bronchiectasis Consortium, Lung Foundation, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁶ Department of Technical Physics, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
⁷ Division of Medicine, The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁸ Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁹ Danila Dilba Health Services, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
¹⁰ Northern Institute, Faculty of Arts and Society, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
¹¹ PARADISEC - Sydney Music Conservatorium, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹² Medical Imaging, Kimberley Imaging, Broome, Western Australia, Australia.
¹³ Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁴ Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Central Adelaide, Local Health Network, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
¹⁵ Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁶ Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 40575999
PMCID: PMC12422296
DOI: 10.1111/imj.70116

Editorial

Turning the tide on bronchiectasis in adult Aboriginal Australians: from neglect to action

Subash S Heraganahally et al. Intern Med J. 2025 Sep.

. 2025 Sep;55(9):1578-1582.

doi: 10.1111/imj.70116. Epub 2025 Jun 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
² College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
³ Faculty of Health, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁴ Darwin Respiratory and Sleep Health, Darwin Private Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁵ Australasian Bronchiectasis Consortium, Lung Foundation, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁶ Department of Technical Physics, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
⁷ Division of Medicine, The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁸ Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁹ Danila Dilba Health Services, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
¹⁰ Northern Institute, Faculty of Arts and Society, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
¹¹ PARADISEC - Sydney Music Conservatorium, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹² Medical Imaging, Kimberley Imaging, Broome, Western Australia, Australia.
¹³ Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁴ Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Central Adelaide, Local Health Network, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
¹⁵ Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁶ Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 40575999
PMCID: PMC12422296
DOI: 10.1111/imj.70116

Abstract

Chronic respiratory disorders are highly prevalent among adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, with emerging evidence suggesting that there is a significant burden of bronchiectasis contributing to overall higher morbidity and mortality. Despite this, bronchiectasis in adult Aboriginal Australians has attracted little attention in the past few decades, and only recently is published evidence on this topic beginning to emerge. This paper highlights recent insights into the disease profiles of bronchiectasis among adult Aboriginal populations, revealing a particularly high prevalence among rural and remote residing Aboriginal people that is disproportionately higher in comparison to global diverse ethnic cohorts. Studies reveal differences in disease characteristics as well as prevalence, with higher presence of multi-morbidity, impaired lung function (spirometry), multi-lobar involvement on chest radiology and higher bacterial load measured in sputum. In addition, hospital admission rates and all-cause mortality are high, significantly influencing the economic impact. These findings highlight the need for further research into the unique characteristics of bronchiectasis in adult Aboriginal Australian patients and highlight the need for targeted action.

Keywords: clinical outcome; ethnicity; health disparity; indigenous; management guideline; remote.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare . Health and wellbeing of First Nations people. 2024 [cited 2025 Jun 26]. Available from URL: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/indigenous-health-and-....
1. Howarth T, Heraganahally S, Heraganahally S. Bronchiectasis among adult First Nations indigenous people – a scoping review. Curr Respir Med Rev 2023; 19: 36–51.
1. Howarth TP, Jersmann HPA, Majoni SW, Mo L, Ben Saad H, Ford LP et al. The ‘ABC’ of respiratory disorders among adult indigenous people: asthma, bronchiectasis and COPD among Aboriginal Australians – a systematic review. BMJ Open Respir Res 2023; 10: e001738. - PMC - PubMed
1. Gibbs C, Howarth T, Ticoalu A, Chen W, Ford PL, Abeyaratne A et al. Bronchiectasis among indigenous adults in the top end of the northern territory, 2011–2020: a retrospective cohort study. Med J Aust. 2024; 220: 188–195. - PubMed
1. Collaro AJ, Chang AB, Marchant JM, Chatfield MD, Dent A, Blake T et al. Determinants and follow‐up of lung function data from a predominantly First Nations cohort of adults referred to specialist respiratory outreach clinics in regional and remote Queensland. Lung 2021; 199: 417–425. - PubMed

Publication types

Actions

MeSH terms

Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
Miscellaneous
- NCI CPTAC Assay Portal

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Turning the tide on bronchiectasis in adult Aboriginal Australians: from neglect to action

Affiliations

Turning the tide on bronchiectasis in adult Aboriginal Australians: from neglect to action

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous