362 Incidence of stroke by ethnicity in New South Wales, Australia: a census-linked cohort study

Abstract OP 35: Health Status 2, B210 (FCSH), September 5, 2025, 10:15 - 11:15 Background Stroke is a leading cause of disability and mortality, but little is known about how incidence varies by ethnicity in non-Indigenous Australians due to lack of routine collection of ethnicity data. This study aims to examine ethnic differences in age-standardised stroke incidence in New South Wales (NSW) from 2016 to 2022. Methods We conducted a population-based cohort study using linked administrative datasets. The study sample includes all residents of NSW aged 25 years and over who responded to the 2016 Census and were successfully linked to the Person Linked Integrated Data Asset (n = 4,609,869). Individuals with a history of stroke in the preceding 10 years were excluded. Stroke events were identified based on hospital and deaths data using ICD-10 codes. Ethnicity was measured by self-reported ancestry in the Census, with categorisations informed by an expert and community panel. Results In preliminary results, the overall age-standardized stroke incidence was 188 per 100,000 person-years for females and 244 per 100,000 person-years for males. Among males, the highest incidence was observed in Pasifika (384 per 100,000), Peoples of the Sudan (343 per 100,000), Northern Europeans (347 per 100,000) and Māori (332 per 100,000). Among females, the highest rates were observed in Pasifika (299 per 100,000) and Māori (268 per 100,000). Other ethnic groups had lower or similar incidence levels as the population average. Conclusions We observed high stroke incidence in NSW, in several ethnic groups. Importantly, many of the inequalities observed would not be captured by country of birth, which has important implications for how health inequalities are measured in Australia. Further analyses will explore how these inequalities intersect with other sociodemographic characteristics including socio-economic position and English language proficiency. Better understanding of population subgroups most at risk of stroke will enable targeting of tailored prevention and management strategies.