Demystifying environmental health-related diseases: Using ICD codes to facilitate environmental health clinical referrals

<b>Background:</b> The burden of disease of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is estimated as 2.3 times that of the broader Australian population, with between 30% and 50% of health inequalities attributable to poor environmental health. <b>Objective:</b> Although many Australian states and territories have clinical policy initiatives that seek to reduce the burden of preventable disease in this population, including field-based environmental health clinical referrals (EHCRs), there is little consistency across the jurisdictions, resulting in less potential to break the cycle of recurrent diseases within the home environment. <b>Method and Results:</b> This study addresses this inconsistency by recommending recognition and categorisation of environmental health risks to allow for accurate diagnosis and comparability across health services and locations by using the <i>International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems</i> (ICD) system, already in use in hospitals. <b>Conclusion and Implications:</b> Developing a list of mutually agreed environmental health attributable diseases for the EHCR process using assigned ICD-10-AM codes would influence the provision of primary care to include recognition of the impact of environmental health conditions and allow environmental health staff to provide a response and education at both community and household levels to break disease cycles.