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One in two Australians living with a chronic condition
Mental and behavioural conditions were the most prevalent in 2022, followed by back problems and arthritis.
Nearly 80% of people aged 65 and older had at least one chronic condition in 2022.
Eight in 10 Australians (81.4%) had at least one long-term health condition in 2022, while half (49.9%) were living with at least one selected chronic condition, according to the latest National Health Survey (NHS).
Produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the survey is designed to collect a wide range of information, including the prevalence of health conditions; data on risk factors such as smoking and vaping, alcohol consumption and physical activity; and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.
The most prevalent chronic conditions experienced in Australia in 2022 were:
- mental and behavioural conditions – 26.1%
- back problems – 15.7%
- arthritis – 14.5%
- asthma – 10.8%
- diabetes – 5.3%
- heart, stroke and vascular disease – 5.2%
- osteoporosis – 3.4%
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – 2.5%
- cancer – 1.8%
- kidney disease – 1%.
Many people with chronic conditions also had multimorbidity, which was especially common among those who had COPD:
- COPD – 86.6%
- Heart, stroke and vascular disease – 84.8%
- Cancer – 82%
- Kidney disease – 80.5%
- Osteoporosis – 78.9%
- Diabetes – 78.2%
- Arthritis – 74.4%
- Back problems – 71.6%
- Asthma – 64.9%
- Mental and behavioural conditions – 51.8%
Unsurprisingly, people aged 65 and older had both the highest rates of chronic conditions (79%) and multimorbidity (50.2%).
Aside from age, the statistics also show that disadvantage is strongly correlated with chronic conditions; more than one in four people (28.4%) living in areas of most disadvantage had two or more chronic conditions, compared to one in eight (16.1%) of those in areas of least disadvantage.
Upon its release, ABS Director of Health Statistics Robert Long said the NHS offers insights into how the health of Australians has changed over time. It may also be used to predict future trends.
‘Three in four adults with high-measured blood pressure did not report having hypertension,’ he said.
‘This suggests that many people with high-measured blood pressure remain undiagnosed.’
The report also provides information on lifestyle choices that can contribute to chronic conditions.
Last year, more than one in four adults (26.8%) exceeded the Australian Adult Alcohol Guideline, reporting that they drank more than 10 standard drinks a week and/or five or more drinks on any one day at least monthly.
Young adults aged 18–24 years were more likely than any other age group to exceed this amount, with over one in three (36.1%) exceeding the guideline in 2022.
More than four in 10 adults (44.1%) were eating the recommended daily intake of fruit, but the proportion of people that do not usually eat fruit each day has nearly doubled since 2011–12 (6.3% vs 12%). Only 6.5% of adults ate the recommended daily intake of vegetables last year.
Adults and children had similar rates of meeting both fruit and vegetable recommendations (4.2% and 4.3%), while two in three adults (67.9%) had measured waist circumference that put them at an increased risk of disease in 2022. Almost two thirds (65.8%) of adults were overweight or obese.
‘On average, we were doing 69 minutes of physical activity every day and nearly half of us spent most of our workday sitting,’ Mr Long said.
The ABS statistics were released in the wake of a new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, which showed that mental health conditions and substance abuse now cause
the second heaviest burden of disease in the country.
The disease group has leapfrogged musculoskeletal conditions and now lies second only to cancer for its overall impact on the population.
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Australian Bureau of Statistics chronic conditions National Health Survey
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