Chronic Diseases Affect 15 million Australians
The importance of tackling chronic diseases – conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and arthritis, which tend to be long-lasting and persistent – is highlighted in a new report which shows that Australians
are not doing enough to guard against these diseases.
More than three-quarters of Australians have at least one chronic condition, says the report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Head of the Institute’s Population Health Unit, Mr Mark Cooper-Stanbury, noted that the costs associated with these conditions were a drain on the health system.
‘In 2000-01 chronic diseases accounted for nearly 70% of the total health expenditure that can be allocated to diseases. ‘Common examples of chronic conditions are asthma, which affects about 10% of the total population, osteoarthritis which affects nearly 8% of the population, and depression, which over 5% of Australians experience,’ he said.
For those aged 65 years and over more than 80% have three or more long-term conditions . ‘Older people carry a relatively large share of coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, but the middle ages are not exempt, with depression, chronic kidney disease and coronary heart disease prevalent in that age group.
The report highlights that Australians are not doing enough about the lifestyle risk factors The report, Chronic diseases and associated risk factors in Australia, 2006, focuses on patterns of disease and the prevalence of risk factors across different age groups, geographical areas, and socioeconomic status, and reports on the health services used in preventing and managing these conditions.
