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Fatal disease burden falls by 20%: AIHW report


Doug Hendrie


1/05/2018 2:45:43 PM

Australia’s rate of fatal burden from all diseases decreased by 19.6% between 2003 and 2015.

The AIHW study found cancer, heart diseases and injuries were the leading causes of lost years of life.
The AIHW study found cancer, heart diseases and injuries were the leading causes of lost years of life.

That is one of the findings from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) recently published Australian Burden of Disease Study 2015.
 
The concept of ‘fatal burden’ measures the number of years lost due to premature death.
 
Almost 2.4 million years of life (YLL) were lost from all selected diseases in 2015 – the equivalent of 89 YLL per 1000 population. Cancer, heart diseases and injuries were the leading causes of YLL, with the same three killers also the top causes in previous reports from 2003 and 2011.
 
The leading causes of fatal burden for people aged over 65 years were coronary heart disease, dementia and lung cancer. The causes were very different for people under 45, however – suicide, poisoning and car crashes.
 
Very remote areas have fatal burden rates 1.9 times higher than major cities, while the lowest socioeconomic group had a rate 55% greater than the highest income group.
 
Lung cancer had the most fatal burden of all cancers, with 154,000 years of life lost, followed by bowel cancer, with 91,000 years lost.
 
The Northern Territory has the highest aged-standardised YLL rate for all diseases in 2015, while the ACT had the lowest.
 
The AIHW estimates cover 17 disease groups and around 200 specific diseases and injuries, from Barmah Forest Virus to mumps to testicular cancer.
 
The study uses data visualisation to help doctors and public health professionals, allowing users to view the burden of individual diseases or injuries, and change over time.



AIHW disease-burden fatal-burden public-health


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