Measures of the health status of Australians

Sources of health data and statistics in Australia Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia’s national statistical agency, concentrates on demographic and economic data. The ABS gauges the health of the Australian population by measuring mortality (death), morbidity (illness), lifestyle factors, disability, and the use of health services. www.abs.gov.au Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) www.aihw.gov.au is Australia’s national agency for health and welfare statistics and information. Department of Human Services (DHS), Victoria www.dhs.vic.gov.au which is also an important source of health information. The DHS is Victoria’s largest government department. It plans, funds and delivers health, community and housing services. www.health.vic.gov.au

The key measures or indicators of health Life expectancy Health adjusted life expectancy (HALE) Mortality Under 5 mortality rate Morbidity Burden of disease Disability adjusted life years (DALY) Incidence Prevalence Note: add these terms to your glossary you must know all of these definitions for the exam

Life expectancy Life expectancy at birth : estimates the average number of years a newborn can expect to live if existing mortality patterns continue over the individual’s lifetime. Australian born in 2003–05 could expect to live an average of 83.3 years for females 78.5 years for males.

Life expectancy can be stated for people at older ages Life expectancy can be stated for people at older ages. Life expectancy at age 65, for example, is a statement of the age, on average, people currently aged 65 could be expected to live to, taking account of current death rates. Life expectancy at 65 does not take account of the deaths that have already occurred at a younger age among this age group – it only looks at what is likely to occur to these people in the future, as they get older Complete activity on page 12

Health adjusted life expectancy (HALE) Health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE): the number of years lived without reduced functioning due to ill health. HALE is calculated for different age groups – HALE at birth, HALE at 65 years old and so on. Australia is fortunate in having among the highest healthy life expectancy figures in the world.

Mortality Mortality rate : measures the proportion of a population who die in a period of one year. For example, in 2005 there were 130 700 deaths in Australia. Of these, 23 570 deaths (or 18 per cent of all deaths) were caused by coronary heart disease. This data is from death certificates, which show the cause of death as well as demographic data such as age, sex and place of residency.

To allow comparisons with other countries deaths are expressed as a death (mortality) rate whereby the number of deaths is expressed in relation to population size. Previously we saw that Australia had 130 700 deaths in 2005 from a population of 20.4 million people. So the overall death rate for Australia in 2005 was 640.7 deaths per 100 000 people or 6.4 deaths per 1000 people. This is sometimes called the crude death rate. Crude death rate: the overall proportion of a population who die in a given period of time.

measures of mortality commonly used to measure the health status of a population: The infant mortality rate refers to the risk of an infant dying between birth and one year of age in a given year; usually given per 1000 live births. The under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) refers to the number of deaths occurring in a given population of under-5 children during a specified time period; usually given per 1000 live births. The maternal mortality ratio refers to the number of women dying from pregnancy-related causes; usually given per 100 000 live births.

Leading cause of death in Australia Complete activity 1.2 C page 17 and 18

Years of life lost (YLL) Years of life lost (YLL): a measure of how many years of expected life are lost due to premature death. Diseases that cause death at an early age are a greater ‘burden’ on society than deaths that occur very late in life.

Morbidity morbidity refers to ill health in an individual and to levels of ill health in a population or group. Morbidity data includes levels of disease, illness, disability and injury. The term disease refers to a physical or mental disturbance involving symptoms such as pain or feeling unwell, dysfunction or tissue damage, especially if these symptoms and signs form a recognisable clinical pattern.

Disease and injury Can cause : Suffering disability premature death impose significant costs on society in terms of use of the health care system, and days off work because of illness or to care for people who are ill reduced quality of life. Leading cause of disease include : cancer -19 per cent of Australia’s total cardiovascular disease (18 per cent) mental disorders (13 per cent).

Prevalence and Incidence Prevalence: the total number of people experiencing a condition during a specified period of time (such as a particular year), given either as the total number of cases, or as a rate showing the proportion of the population with the condition. Incidence: the number or rate of new cases of the condition during a given period.

Burden of disease and disability adjusted life years (DALY s) early 1990s, the World Health Organization developed a method for combining morbidity and mortality data into a single measure of the burden of disease for different health problems: the disability-adjusted life year (DALY). It used the DALY in calculating what it termed the ‘global burden of disease’ The DALY for a particular disease or illness is the sum of the years of life lost (YLL) due to premature death, and the equivalent ‘healthy’ years lost due to disability (YLD). DALY = YLL + YLD One DALY therefore represents a healthy year of life lost

The Victorian Department of Human Services explains the importance of the burden of disease: The burden of disease, therefore, measures the gap between current health status and an ideal situation in which everyone lives into old age free of disease and disability. As such, it indicates the ‘unfinished’ health agenda, identifying areas in which additional health gains can be made. Complete activity on page 21 and 22