Disadvantaged groups experience more severe and more long-term
health problems than other Australians, according to a report
released jointly by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The report, Health Inequalities in Australia: morbidity,
health behaviours, risk factors and health services use, looks
at where people live, their income, education and occupation, and
finds that being disadvantaged puts people at much higher risk for
health problems.
The report found that people living in the most disadvantaged
areas visited the G.P. more often than other Australians, but made
significantly fewer visits to dentists or medical specialists.
'Disadvantaged women are much less likely than their better-off
counterparts to undergo early diagnostic tests for breast or
cervical cancer, for example,' said report co-author Dr Gavin
Turrell, of QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical
Innovation.
He added that disadvantaged people were more likely to engage in
risky health behaviours in general, with exposure to the sun,
obesity and smoking just some of the health risk factors examined
in the report.
In 2001, girls aged 14 years or under from the lowest income
families were almost three times less likely to use sun protection
(sunscreen, protective clothing, sunglasses or an umbrella) than
their high-income-family counterparts.
In 2001 both men and women working in blue-collar occupations
were significantly more likely to be obese, with rates for men 21 %
higher than their professional counterparts. Rates for women were
63 % higher.
'Regarding smoking, men and women aged 25 to 64 with no tertiary
education were two to three times more likely to smoke than men and
women with a university degree.
'Measures to address these significant health inequalities could
include improved living and working conditions, community
involvement in health initiatives and changing health damaging
behaviours,' Dr Turrell said.
7 April 2006
Further information: Dr Gavin Turrell, QUT,
tel. 07 3864 8285, or Mr Michael de Looper, AIHW, tel. 02 6244
1137
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of the Health Inequalities in
Australia report.