Equity for Indigenous Australians in intensive care

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are more likely to be admitted to acute care hospitals than non-Indigenous Australians.1While this is widely recognised, the over- representation of Indigenous patients in Australian intensive care units (ICUs) has been highlighted only recently.2,3 The headline finding that Indigenous Australians have an ICU admission rate that is 1.2 times the expected rate considering population representation is concerning, although not surprising, given higher Indigenous hospitalisation rates.13 It is reassuring that Indigenous patients appear to have similar in-ICU and in-hospital mortality.2,3 Intensivists should be justifiably proud of this mortality equivalence, but deeper analysis conveys some inconvenient truths