Ten million Australians living with multimorbidity

Anxiety and depression are now Australia’s most common pair of co-occurring conditions, affecting 9.3% of the population.
 
That is according to new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data, which reveals 38% of Australians, or 9.7 million people, were living with multimorbidity in 2022. 
 
Anxiety and back problems were the second most commonly co-occurring conditions among all age groups, followed by back problems and depression.
 
The data also shows around 11% of Australians aged 0–14 were living with multimorbidity, compared with 79% of those aged 85 and over.

Conditions such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder and autism featured more heavily in younger age groups, while the presence of back problems, osteoarthritis and hearing loss increase with age.
 
Multimorbidity was found to be more common among females, however, when looking at age comparisons, is significantly more likely among males aged 0–14 and 75 and over.
 
AIHW spokesperson Amy Young said the data also found that people living with multimorbidity often have more complex health needs and report poorer overall quality of life.
 
‘This makes preventing and managing multimorbidity an important focus for individuals, the health system and society as a whole,’ she said.

‘Multimorbidity is more common among people with more risk factors, which include smoking, high blood pressure, insufficient physical activity, not eating a healthy diet and living with overweight or obesity.
 
‘Some of the risk factors are preventable and modifying them can reduce an individual’s risk of developing a chronic disease and lead to improved health outcomes.’
 
In 2022, the proportion of adults living with multimorbidity was higher among those with four or more of six selected risk factors (59%), compared with those with no risk factors (29%).
 
These six risk factors are current daily smoking, exceeding the Australian alcohol consumption guidelines, high blood pressure, insufficient physical activity, not usually eating any serves of fruit or vegetables daily and overweight or obesity.
 
The AIHW says that of these risk factors, not usually eating any serves of fruit or vegetables daily is associated with the highest proportion of multimorbidity, with 60% of adults with this risk factor living with multimorbidity.
 
Multimorbidity was also found to have a significant impact on a person’s life and Australia’s workforce, with 41% of people with multimorbidity experiencing disability, restriction or limitation compared to 2.0% of people with no long-term health conditions.
 
More than 40% of those with multimorbidity also reported having moderate to very severe bodily pain in the previous four weeks, compared to 8.2% of the broader population.
 
The prevalence of multimorbidity also varies across socioeconomic and remoteness areas, impacting 43% among people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas and 32% among people living in the highest socioeconomic areas.
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

AIHW Australian Institute of Health and Welfare mental health multimorbidity