Non‐infectious skin disease in Indigenous Australians

The burden of non‐infectious skin disease in the I ndigenous A ustralian population has not been previously examined. This study considers the published data on the epidemiology and clinical features of a number of non‐infectious skin diseases in I ndigenous A ustralians. It also outlines hypotheses for the possible differences in the prevalence of such diseases in this group compared with the general A ustralian population. There is a paucity of literature on the topic but, from the material available, I ndigenous A ustralians appear to have a reduced prevalence of psoriasis, type 1 hypersensitivity reactions and skin cancer but increased rates of lupus erythematosus, kava dermopathy and vitamin D deficiency when compared to the non‐ I ndigenous A ustralian population. This article profiles the prevalence and presentation of non‐infectious skin diseases in the I ndigenous A ustralian population to synthesise our limited knowledge and highlight deficiencies in our understanding.