For the first time, the Census collected data about selected long-term health conditions in the community.
The Census question asked respondents if they had been diagnosed with a specific condition from a list of ten conditions plus “other”. Combined, these ten conditions comprise approximately 60% of Australia’s deaths, and even those that are not deadly contribute substantially to the disease burden. Over 8 million people reported having a long-term health condition, with 4.8 million having one of the selected long-term health conditions. In addition, almost 800,000 people had three or more of the selected long-term health conditions. This information, gathered by .id (Informed Decisions), is very valuable to researchers, all levels of government, community health networks, minority groups and other health advocacy groups.
The article covers several topics including:
- What does the data tell us about our health?
- Mental health is Australia’s number 1 health condition
- First Nations Australians’ health statistics are different
- Confounding factors such as age influence health statistics greatly
- Expert analysis can add more depth and meaning to this information
- Informing Federal, State government and health advocacy groups
- The power of this dataset for local government
- We can help you get the most out of this information for your community