New releases

Publications

Multiple causes of death: an analysis of all natural and selected chronic disease causes of death 1997–2007

Multiple causes of death data are useful for describing the role of all diseases involved in deaths. This bulletin is the first comprehensive application of multiple causes of death statistics to natural causes of death and specific chronic diseases of public health importance in Australia. It may be useful for guiding and improving policy for reducing deaths from these chronic diseases and for targeting future investment in health prevention. When describing patterns of causes of death using only the underlying cause, important cause information is overlooked. Analyses using multiple cause data complement routine descriptions of mortality that use only the underlying cause and offer broader insight into the disease processes occurring at the end of life.

Published 23 August 2012.

Social distribution of health risks and health outcomes: preliminary analysis of the National Health Survey 2007–08

Where people are born, grow, live, work and age affects their health status. This paper explores the association between selected social and health risk factors on Australians' health. It shows that people with higher household incomes and higher education qualifications are more likely to report better health and less likely to report smoking, and people living outside major cities are more likely to report being an unhealthy weight.

Published 28 August 2012.

Risk factor trends: age patterns in key health risk factors over time

This report presents comparisons over time for different age groups for key health risk factors, including overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, poor diet, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. The good news is that smoking rates have declined, particularly among younger people. However, overweight/obesity rates have increased for virtually all age groups, especially females aged 12 to 44.

Published 11 September 2012.

Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia 2008–09

This report is the seventh in a series on hospitalisations due to injury and poisoning in Australia, and covers the financial year 2008–09. A total of 412,985 injury cases required hospitalisation during the 12 months (239,345 males and 173,637 females). Overall rates of injury were higher among people aged 65 and over, and lower in children aged 0–14. The leading causes of hospitalised injury were unintentional falls (38% of cases), followed by transport accidents (14%).

Published 14 September 2012.

Cancer survival and prevalence in Australia: period estimates from 1982 to 2010

This report presents the latest national survival and prevalence statistics for cancers in Australia from 1982 to 2010. Five-year survival for all cancers combined increased from 47% in 1982–1987 to 66% in 2006-2010. The largest survival gains over this time were for prostate cancer, kidney cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In 2006–2010, cancers with the highest survival were those of the testis, lip, prostate and thyroid, and melanoma of the skin. In comparison, pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma had the lowest survival.

Published 20 September 2012.

Health expenditure Australia 2010–11

Expenditure on health in Australia was estimated to be $130.3 billion in 2010–11, up from $77.5 billion in 2000–01. This expenditure was 9.3% of gross domestic product in 2010–11, down from 9.4% in 2009–10 but up from 8.2% in 2000–01. The estimated recurrent expenditure on health was $5,796 per person, and 69.1% was funded by governments, up from 67.7% in 2000–01. The two largest components of the increase in health expenditure were public hospital services, which grew by $2.2 billion in real terms, followed by medications ($2.1 billion).

Released 26 September 2012.

Mental health services in brief 2012

Mental health services in Australia—in brief 2012 provides an overview of the national response to the mental health needs of Australians. It includes information on mental health service provision, available mental health resources and the changes that have occurred in these over time. The publication compliments the more comprehensive data that is available online at Mental health services in Australia http://mhsa.aihw.gov.au.

Released 10 October 2012.

Australian hospital statistics 2011–12: elective surgery waiting times

In 2011–12:

Released 16 October 2012.

BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2009–10

BreastScreen Australia aims to reduce illness and death resulting from breast cancer through organised screening of women. This report is the latest in an annual series that presents national statistics monitoring the program against performance indicators.

More than 1.3 million women in the target age group of 50–69 were screened in 2009–2010, a participation rate of 55%. Breast cancer mortality is at a historic low, at 43 deaths per 100,000 women.

Released 17 October 2012.