General Medicine

» woorama - sard and aboriginal peoples

i understand that systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (sard)is a particular problem in indigenous communities.

i'm interested in finding out more about this for a blog to link to a recent article i did on using native medicine to treat sore bones/joints. do you know of any research that has determined the causes of aboriginal overrepresentation in this disease?

tyson yunkaporta, writer for Aboriginal Rights here at Suite 101.

-- posted by woorama

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» Elaine Moore - sard and aboriginal peoples

In response to sard and aboriginal peoples posted by woorama:

Hi,
Offhand, I don't know of any studies, but I can do some research this week and get back to you. I would suspect that there could be an epidemic clustering of people genetically predisposed to sard in certain endemic populations or a common environmental trigger. I'll see what I can find out, Elaine

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» Elaine Moore - sard and aboriginal peoples

In response to sard and aboriginal peoples posted by daisyelaine:

What I've found is that there was no evidence to suggest that systemic rheumatic diseases existed in Aborigines before or during the early stages of white settlement. Early on, though, osteoarthritis was common and probably related to the hunter gatherer lifestyle.
Since white settlement in the area, high frequency rates of rheumatic fever, SLE and gouty arthritis have occurred. Several studies have attempted to determine the reasons, which theoretically include:
limited access to healthcare services, low socioeconomic standing, poor diet, stress including the stress of racism, changing phenotype with HLA susceptibility, contaminated water, overcrowding.
The Social Justice Report by the Aboriginal & Torrest Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/sjreport05/chap2.html lists some of the reasons for health disparities and the improvements since 1970.

What I haven't found but wonder about is the link between hepatitis B (increased in Aborigines) or the vaccination programs for it and autoimmune disease prevalence. That would be an interesting study or line of research.

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