Older Australians publications

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can together be described as obstructive lung disease. This report examines recent data on deaths and hospitalisations among people aged 55 years and over when asthma or COPD are recorded as one of multiple causes of death or hospital diagnoses. The aim is to describe the extent of obstructive lung disease among older Australians, to assess the possibility of misclassification between asthma and COPD and to investigate the association between these diseases and other conditions.

The proportion of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia's older population (65 and older) is growing. Identifying the changing geographic distribution of this older population is of particular importance because location plays a significant role in understanding and planning health and aged care services. As most of the culturally and linguistically diverse population aged 65 and over in Australia live in metropolitan areas, this bulletin focuses on the change over time to the older populations in capital cities.

A little over one-quarter of all drowning deaths in Australia and one eighth of hospitalised non-fatal drowning cases occur at ages 55 years and older. This report describes the occurrence of such cases during several years (nine for deaths and five for hospitalised cases). It also describes hospitalised non-drowning injuries in relation to aquatic activities and places.

The ageing of the Australian population has enlarged the population at high risk of fall-related injury and population projections imply substantial increase in years to come. A large proportion of Australia's older population were born overseas and changing migration patterns following the Second World War have resulted in an older population which is becoming highly culturally and linguistically diverse. This report examines fall-related hospitalisations for people aged 65 and older for the years 2000-03 according to country of birth and place of usual residence.

Examines the level and patterns of government health and welfare expenditure on older Australians. It describes the main areas of expenditure, and argues that the controls put in place in each of these areas to contain costs have resulted in a manageable increase in government expenditure. Current until 1 December 1999.

Documents health differentials in Australia using national population health and mortality data relating to the late 1980s. The first, entitled Health Differentials Among Adult Australians aged 25-64 years, was published in 1994 by the AIHW.

 This report is the fifth in a series on hospitalisations due to falls by Australians aged 65 and older and focuses on 2008-09.

For the first time in this report series, the rate of hospitalised fall injuries involving older females exceeded 3,000 per 100,000 population.

The incidence of injury has continued to increase substantially over the decade to June 2009, despite a sustained decrease in the rate of hip fractures due to falls. Of note, falls that resulted in head injuries and those described as an 'other fall on same level' increased significantly over the study period.

This report is the second in a series of biennial reports on hospitalisations due to falls by older people in Australia. The report focuses on hospitalised falls occurring in the financial year 2005-06 and examines trends in fall-related hospitalisations over the period 1999-2006. The number of fall events resulting in hospitalisation due to injury for older Australians remains high and the rate of fall-related injury incidents is particularly high for the oldest group within this population. As in the previous report, older females accounted for most of the hospitalised fall injury cases and a third of cases had injuries to the hip and thigh. Half of all fall injury cases for people aged 65 years and older occurred in the home. Falls in residential institutions were also common. Age-standardised rates of hospitalised fall-related injury separations have increased over the seven year study period to June 2006, despite a decrease in the rate for femur fractures due to falls. The estimated total length of stay per fall injury case has also increased over the period 1999-2006, apparently influenced by increases in the number of bed-days used by episodes of fall-related follow-up care.

This report examines Australian hospital data pertaining to fall injuries in people aged 65 and older in 2003-04.

The number of fall events resulting in hospitalisation due to injury for older Australians remains high and the rate of fall-related injury incidents is particularly high for the oldest group within this population. Women are at greatest risk of fall-related injury. Fall incidents most commonly result in a fracture and hip fractures are particularly frequent. This report also highlights that a substantial proportion of fall-related injuries are injuries to the head, which may require more specifically-targeted prevention interventions.

Multiple hospital separations due to a single fall incident substantially add to the burden of disease for older Australians. Separations principally involving follow-up care, rehabilitation and other fall-related conditions contributed 136% more bed-days than those occupied due to initial episodes due to fall injury incidents and brought the total number of fall-related hospital bed-days for people aged 65 and older in 2003-04 to over 1.2 million. The estimated total cost for fall-related acute care in Australian hospitals for people aged 65 and older in 2003-04 was $566.0 million. This represents a substantial proportion of the burden of disease and health expenditure for this population and suggests that the lifetime cost of falls in older people may be substantially higher than has been previously calculated.

This bulletin examines the relationship, as far as Australia’s 2001 National Health Survey (NHS) allows, between obesity and absenteeism from work in almost 10,000 employed men and women who participated in that survey. It also assesses whether the results are consistent with the likelihood of having consulted a health professional and with self-assessed health status. The relationship between obesity and labour force status is also examined.

This bulletin examines levels and trends in the prevalence of obesity in the context of an ageing populations and the likely health and economic consequences. The focus is confined to obesity rather than lesser degrees of overweight because obesity has significant health consequences at all ages. The findings will inform policy makers and program deliverers who have the task of tackling the obesity problem, particularly among older Australians.

Australia's population is ageing and as baby boomers move into old age this trend is set to gather greater momentum over the next three decades. Significant changes will flow to all aspects of social and economic life as both the number and proportion of older people in the community increase. This fourth edition of Older Australians at a glance provides insights into the diversity of the older population of Australia, where they are living, what they are doing, how healthy they are and the services they are using.

In 2011 the Department of Health and Ageing asked the AIHW to update tables and figures for three sections of the report: 

•  Section 1 - Demographic profile;
•  Section 2 - Social and economic context; and
•  Section 5 – Special population groups.

These tables and figures can be found on the additional material tab on this web page. There is no accompanying analysis of the data presented in this material.

Australia's population is ageing and as baby boomers move into old age this trend is set to gather greater momentum over the next three decades. Significant changes will flow to all aspects of social and economic life as both the number and proportion of older people in the community increase. This third edition of Older Australia at a Glance provides insights into the diversity of the older population of Australia at the beginning of the 21st century, where they are living, what they are doing, how healthy they are and the services they are using.

Prepared by AIHW and the Office for Older Australians in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, this publication provides an overview of the health, wellbeing and social circumstances of older Australians and their health and welfare services.

Prepared by AIHW and DHFS for the 1997 World Congress of Gerontology, this publication provides an overview of the health, wellbeing and social circumstances of older Australians and their health and welfare services.

Hospital use increases with age for both admissions and length of stay. This bulletin examines patterns of hospital use among people aged 65 and over. Hospitalisation, length of stay, diagnosis, type of care and destination on discharge are examined.

Older people leaving hospital: a statistical overview of the Transition Care Program in 2008-09 presents key statistics on the characteristics and services provided to older people who are eligible for residential aged care directly after discharge from hospital. The program aims to improve recipients' independence and functioning.

At 30 June 2009 there were 2,228 places providing transitional care to older people leaving hospital. During 2008-09, around 12,600 individuals received just over 14,000 episodes of transition care.

Health cardholders who visit a public dentist have a similar level of oral health and receive similar dental care as those who visit a private dentist. This publication presents findings on health cardholders attending for dental care in the private and public sector using data from the National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004-06. Health cardholders such as age pensioners and the unemployed have government entitlement cards and are eligible for public dental care. But while dental health and care was similar for those using either public or private dentists, this may reflect a general level of disadvantage common to all cardholders. Where differences did exist, the differences consistently involved either poorer oral health status or less desirable service patterns for those who visited the public sector compared to the private sector.

Visual impairment is an important health issue facing the present and future generations of older Australians because it can affect physical, functional, emotional and social wellbeing, and reduce quality of life. The main aim of this bulletin is to present the most reliable, robust and up-to-date estimates of the prevalence of major vision problems among older Australians. The prevalence of vision problems among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is also reported. These estimates are important for use in planning prevention and treatment interventions. The bulletin also presents estimates from the range of Australian data sources available and reports on a number of data quality issues.