Vaccination uptake among people with chronic respiratory disease
Research has shown that vaccinations against influenza and pneumococcal infection can benefit people with obstructive airways disease, which includes asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This report reviews the limited information available in Australia on how many people with asthma and COPD have the vaccination, and finds that the uptake rate is not as high as would be expected if recommendations were being followed.It presents a range of data improvement options that would enhance our ability to monitor vaccination uptake in this and other at-risk population groups.
Medications prescribed for people with obstructive airways disease: antibiotics and inhaled corticosteroids
Appropriate use of medications is important in maximising health benefits for patients, minimising the negative effects of medications, and controlling health costs. This report focuses on the appropriate use of certain medications for the management of obstructive airways disease, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Data in this report suggest that antibiotics are commonly used among patients with asthma and COPD, and that supply patterns for inhaled corticosteroids are often not consistent with treatment guidelines for the management of these conditions.
Food for thought: what do short questions on food habits tell us about dietary intakes?
Short questions on food habits, such as 'How many serves of fruit do you usually eat each day?' are often used to assess dietary behaviours. This report presents analysis of the 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey to assess how well responses to short questions compare with more comprehensive tools, such as keeping a diary of all food eaten over two 24-hour periods. Results show that short questions may be a reasonable proxy for type of milk usually consumed and a reasonable approximation of fruit and vegetable intake, but are of limited value for predicting sodium or iodine intakes.
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.
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.
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.
Multiple causes of death in Australia: 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.
Dialysis and kidney transplantation in Australia: 1991-2010
End-stage kidney disease is a serious and costly health problem in Australia that usually requires kidney replacement therapy (dialysis or kidney transplantation) for patients to survive. At the end of 2009 there were more than 18,000 people receiving kidney replacement therapy. The majority received dialysis treatment, which accounted for more than 1.1 million hospitalisations in the 2009-10 financial year. During 2009 more than 2,300 patients started kidney replacement therapy and 772 kidney transplant operations were performed.
The health of Australia's males: a focus on five population groups
This report is the second in a series on the health of Australia's males. It examines the distinct health profiles of five population groups, characterised by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, remoteness, socioeconomic disadvantage, region of birth, and age. Findings include: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males generally experience poorer health than the overall population, with higher rates of chronic diseases such as lung cancer, diabetes and kidney disease; Socioeconomic disadvantage is frequently related to poorer health status among males, with rates of rates of obesity and tobacco smoking higher among males from more disadvantaged areas.
A working guide to international comparisons of health
Comparisons of health between countries are popular and useful, and often attract media attention. This guide highlights the types of questions to ask before comparing countries and when presenting health data in an international context.
Risk factors contributing to chronic disease
Chronic diseases are responsible for a large portion of the disease burden in Australia, and many are highly preventable by reducing known risk factors. This report shows that:Most people have at least one risk factor and more than 90% do not consume enough vegetables.Social disadvantage is associated with risky health behaviours.Nearly 60%of Australians do not undertake sufficient levels of physical activity, and many of us (almost 80%) usually spend 3 or more hours sitting during our leisure time.
Comorbidity of mental disorders and physical conditions 2007
This report investigates the prevalence of mental illness in association with common chronic diseases and shows that in 2007: 12% of Australians aged 16-85 had a mental disorder and a physical condition at the same time; the most common comorbidity was anxiety disorder combined with a physical condition, affecting around 1.4 million (9%) Australian adults; people living in the most disadvantaged areas of Australia were 65% more likely to have comorbidity than those living in the least disadvantaged areas.
2010 Australian national infant feeding survey: indicator results
The 2010 Australian National Infant Feeding Survey is the first specialised national survey of infant feeding practices in Australia. The survey also collected information on attitudes towards, and enablers for and barriers against breastfeeding.This report provides baseline data on key infant feeding indicators, including:most babies (96%) were initially breastfed, but only 39% were exclusively breastfed for less than 4 months, and 15% for less than 6 months;overall 35% of infants were introduced to solid foods by 4 months of age and 92% by the recommended age of 6 months;around 7% of infants drank cow's milk by 6 months, with most not starting until the recommended age of 12 months.
Australian hospital statistics 2010-2011: emergency department care and elective surgery waiting times
'Australian hospital statistics 2010-11: emergency department care and elective surgery waiting times' presents information relating to emergency department care in major public hospitals and public hospital elective surgery waiting times for the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011. In 2010-11: over 6.2 million emergency department presentations were provided by major public hospitals, with 70% of patients receiving treatment within an appropriate time for their urgency (triage category); about 621,000 patients were admitted to Australian public hospitals from waiting lists for elective surgery, with 50% of patients admitted within 36 days. Data on emergency department waiting times for the ACT have been corrected and resupplied to the AIHW for the period 2008–09 to 2010–11. Chapter 2 tables have been revised to reflect these correction and are available in the Excel tables that accompany this report.
Australian hospital statistics 2010-2011: Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia in Australian public hospitals
In 2010-11: all states and territories had rates of hospital-associated SAB below the national benchmark with rates ranging from 0.9 to 1.4 cases per 10, 000 patient days; there were 1,873 cases of hospital-associated SAB reported for Australia. The reported SAB cases occurred during approximately 17 million days of patient care.
Allergic rhinitis ('hay fever') in Australia
Hay fever is a term commonly used to refer to allergic rhinitis caused by seasonal exposure to pollen. Allergic rhinitis can cause significant irritation and interference in a sufferer's daily activities, considerably reducing their quality of life. It is one of the most common chronic respiratory conditions in Australia, affecting around 15% of Australians or 3.1 million people. The amount of money paid by community pharmacies to wholesalers for medications commonly used to treat allergic rhinitis doubled between 2001 ($107.8 million) and 2010 ($226.8 million).
Trends in palliative care in Australian hospitals
Trends in palliative care in Australian hospitals provides an overview of the nature and extent of palliative care separations in public and private hospitals across Australia for the 10-year period from 1999-00 to 2008-09. These separations may have occurred in a dedicated palliative care ward, a hospice or in other admitted patient beds in a hospital. The report indicates that there has been a substantial increase in the number of palliative care separations in admitted patient settings over time.
Asthma in Australia 2011: with a focus chapter on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Asthma is an important health problem in Australia. This report brings together data from a wide range of sources to describe the current status of asthma in Australia. It includes information on the number of people who have asthma and who visit their general practitioner, are hospitalised or die due to asthma. Time trends and profiles of people who receive various treatments for asthma are also presented, along with information on those who have written asthma action plans. In addition, comorbidities and quality of life among people with asthma are also investigated. This report also includes a chapter that focuses on chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases in Australians aged 55 years and over.
Mental health services in Australia
Mental health services in Australia is an online resource that provides a detailed picture of the characteristics and activities of Australia’s mental health services. Producing this report online enables the data to be published progressively as it becomes available.
Mental health services - in brief 2011
Mental health services - in brief 2011 provides an overview on the characteristics and activity of Australia's mental health services, the availability of mental health resources, and the changes that have occurred in these over time. It is designed to accompany the more comprehensive data on Australia's mental health services available online at http://mhsa.aihw.gov.au.
Mandatory folic acid and iodine fortification in Australia and New Zealand:supplement to the baseline report for monitoring
This supplement is a companion document to the Mandatory folic acid and iodine fortification in Australia and New Zealand: baseline report for monitoring.Additional or updated data are provided on:folic acid intake and supplement usage for children and pregnant womenNTD incidence ratesiodine intake and status for childreniodine status in regional and remote areas of the Northern Territory.
The health of Australia's prisoners 2010
The health of Australia's prisoners 2010 is the second report on indicators of prisoner health in Australia. The two-week snapshot showed that: almost 1 in 3 prison entrants had ever been told they have a mental health disorder and 1 in 5 prisoners in custody were taking medication for a mental health condition. More than 4 in 5 prison entrants currently smoked tobacco; over half reported drinking alcohol at risk levels; and 2 in 3 had used illicit drugs during the previous 12 months. Further, more than 1 in 3 prison entrants had not completed Year 10 at school; and 1 in 4 prison entrants had a chronic condition such as asthma, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. The report also contains data relating to communicable diseases, deaths in custody, and the use of prison health services.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2010: detailed analyses
This report contains detailed analyses underlying the summary data presented in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2010. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF) is designed to provide the basis to monitor the impact of the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (NSFATSIH) and inform policy analyses, planning and program implementation. The HPF consists of 71 measures covering the tiers: health status and outcomes; determinants of health; and health systems performance.
Projections of the incidence of treated end-stage kidney disease in Australia, 2010-2020
This report presents projections of the incidence of end-stage kidney disease treated with dialysis or kidney transplantation (treated ESKD) for the period 2010 to 2020. This information is important for health service planning and resource allocation in the future. The projections are made by sex at national and state/territory levels, and for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients with diabetes when commencing treatment.The incidence of treated ESKD is projected to continue to rise over the next decade; increasing by nearly 80% between 2009 and 2020. The proportion of those commencing ESKD treatment with diabetes is also expected to increase, from 45% in 2009 to 64% in 2020.