Australia's health in 2002
8 July 2002
By world standards, Australians are living long lives, health risks are being actively tackled, and access to high quality health services is very good and generally improving, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s 2-yearly report on the nation’s health, Australia’s Health 2002.
According to the AIHW, much of the burden of ill-health to individuals and society as a whole can be reduced through attention to a few lifestyle factors, such as smoking, poor nutrition, excessive alcohol consumption, and inadequate physical activity; in other words, the public health message of prevention being better than cure.
‘It’s like investing now in order to enjoy an asset later,’ said AIHW Director Dr Richard Madden. ‘But there is a double pay-off in that not only might you enjoy better health, there will be a reduction in future demand on the nation’s health services — a win-win with Australia’s population ageing as it is.’
According to AIHW Medical Adviser Dr Paul Magnus, there’s plenty of scope for improvement: ‘For example, 50 per cent of adults have high cholesterol levels, and this hasn’t improved for the past 20 years. The major culprit is a diet too high in saturated fats.
‘Diabetes is now a major disease for older people, with much of it probably due to increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. Overweight and obesity affect about 65 per cent of men and 45 per cent of women, and one in every 5 children.
‘We have to remember that diabetes, overweight and high cholesterol levels often occur together with high blood pressure — in fact, 70 per cent of diabetes sufferers aged over 25 also have high blood pressure. High blood pressure is the most common reason for consultation with a GP and a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease.’
Here’s a summary of the health of our nation in 2002.
Life expectancy and causes of death
- Australians are living longer than ever. Males born in 2000 had a life expectancy of 76.6 years and females 82.1 years. This ranks Australia fifth in the world for longevity of males and sixth for females.
- Despite many great health gains, Australia’s levels of disability are not improving, but they are not worsening either.
- Lung cancer is the third leading cause of death among individual diseases, after heart attack and stroke. Almost 19 Australians die of lung cancer per day compared with 13 for bowel cancer, 7 for prostate cancer and 7 for breast cancer.
- Although heart attack is still the number one killer, death rates from it and stroke have fallen by more than two-thirds over the past 30 years.
- In 2000, about 136 Australians per day died from heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular)disease (49,741 in the year), including about 27 per day under the age of 70 (about 9,948 in the year, 20 per cent of the total).
- We’re surviving cancer better. The 5-year relative survival rates for cancer in males was 56.8 per cent in 1992–94 compared with 43.8 per cent in 1982–86. For females the corresponding figures were 63.4 per cent and 55.3 per cent.
Health resources and use of services
- In 1999–2000, $53.7 billion was spent on health services in Australia.
- Medicare provided benefits for 213.9 million services in 2000–01, 3.7 per cent more than in 1998–99.
- The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme subsidised 148.1 million community prescriptions, 7.2 per cent more than the 138.1 million in 1999–00.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
- Indigenous people are more likely to experience disability and reduced quality of life due to ill health, and to die at younger ages than other Australians.
- The estimated life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (56 years for men and 63 years for women) is 19 to 20 years lower than for other Australians.
- Death rates for indigenous people were higher than for other Australians for almost all causes of death. Deaths from kidney failure are 8 times greater for male indigenous people than for other Australians and 5 times greater for indigenous females.
Child and adolescent health
- There was a marked decline (nearly 70 per cent) in the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) death rate over the last two decades.
- There was a marked increase in immunisation coverage over the past 6 years. Latest figures indicate that 91 per cent of children aged one year and 88 per cent of children aged 2 years are fully immunised for their age. This has resulted in a significant fall in the incidence of most vaccine preventable diseases.
- Death rates due to injuries from motor vehicle accidents and accidental drowning have also fallen among children over the past decade by 27 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
- The prevalence/incidence of some conditions is high among children and the rates continue to increase. These include: asthma, affecting one in 5 school children; type 1 diabetes; and mental and behavioural problems, with about one in 7 children reported as having a mental health or behavioural problem.
- There have been significant increases in incidence of overweight and obesity among children in recent years, resulting from increased energy intake and lower levels of physical activity among some children. The latest estimates indicate that the prevalence of overweight or obesity among children (0–14 years) is 18 per cent for boys and 22 per cent for girls. Children and adolescents who are overweight are at greater risk of becoming overweight or obese adults.
- Youth suicide rates fell between 1997 and 2000, and deaths attributable to drug dependence fell between 1998 and 2000.
- Of young people aged 13-17 years, 13.4 per cent of males and 12.8 per cent of females were reported to have a mental health problem. In addition, one in 4 youths aged 18-24 years (27 per cent) were reported to have a mental disorder.
- Among adolescents there were no significant changes in daily smoking rates between 1998 and 2001, but it does appear that the rise in teenage smoking seen in the 1990s seems to have stopped.
Mental health
- The National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing found that an estimated 18 per cent of adults had an anxiety, affective or substance use disorder in the preceding 12 months.
- The Survey also found that 14 per cent of children and adolescents had mental health problems.
- The prevalence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder was 11.2 per cent among all adolescents and children.
- Hospitalisation for mental illness is rare, with less than 1 per cent of adults with a mental illness hospitalised each year.
Diabetes
- About one in 13 adults (938,700 aged 25 and over) are estimated to have diabetes, with half unaware that they have it.
- Surveys suggest diabetes is twice as common as it was 20 years ago, and many attribute this to the increased prevalence of obesity in Australia.
- The incidence of diabetes among Aboriginal people in Central Australia is among the highest in the world.
- Diabetes is characterised by co-morbidity (accompanying diseases and conditions). For example, nearly 70 per cent of diabetes sufferers aged 25 and over also have high blood pressure.
Ageing
- At age 65 in 2000, men can expect to live to 81.6 years and women 85.2 years.
- There were more than 45,000 episodes of hospital care in 1997–98 as a result of falls by people aged over 65. The majority of falls occur in the home.
Health risk factors
- Smoking rates have continued to decline, with less than 20 per cent of Australians aged 14 or over smoking tobacco daily.
- The 2001 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that 40 per cent of Australians consider tobacco use to be acceptable, yet 90 per cent also believed non-smokers who live, work or socialise with smokers may one day develop health problems themselves because of other people’s tobacco smoke.
- Overweight and obesity remains a serious problem, affecting about 65 per cent of men and 45 per cent of women.
- About 35 per cent of adult Australians drink at levels which put them at risk of harm in the short term, and about 10 per cent drink at levels which put them at risk of harm in the long term.
- Adult participation in sufficient physical activity for a health benefit declined from 62 per cent in 1997 to 57 per cent in 2000. The decrease in rates of physical activity between 1997 and 2000 was most significant among people with tertiary education qualifications.
- Average blood cholesterol levels have changed little over the past 20 years, with about 50 per cent of adults having high blood cholesterol.
- The prevalence of high blood pressure halved between 1980 and 2000. Reasons for this are unclear, but coincide with reductions in average blood pressure levels and greater availability of low salt food products.
Last Reviewed: 09 July 2002
