Indigenous dermatology: a review

Abstract

Indigenous Australians suffer increased rates of morbidity across a wide range of medical conditions including many skin conditions. This review assesses the scope of the literature on Indigenous Dermatology. It seeks to highlight what is known about the burden of skin disease in the Indigenous population and to identify areas of uncertainty. A systematic review of research relating to Indigenous Dermatology since 1980 was performed utilizing the databases Ovid Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. This review provides an overview of what is known about Indigenous dermatology, highlights areas of clinical need and provides direction on areas requiring further research.