Burden of disease

People who have identified themselves, or have been identified by a representative (for example, their parent or guardian), as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. Also 'First Nations people'.

A set of techniques used to remove, as far as possible, the effects of differences in the age structure when comparing 2 or more populations.

A rate that takes into account the age structure of the population using age-standardisation techniques.

See also crude rate

Cause(s) listed on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, other than the underlying cause of death. They include the immediate cause, any intervening causes, and conditions that contributed to the death but were not related to the disease or condition causing death.   

See also cause(s) of death, underlying cause of death 
 

The disease burden attributed to a particular risk factor.

The quantified impact of a disease or injury on a population using the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) measure, which measures how much healthy life has been lost through premature death or living with illness or injury.  

See also disability-adjusted life years (DALY), years lived with disability (YLD), years of life lost (YLL)

All diseases, morbid conditions or injuries that either resulted in or contributed to death – and the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced any such injuries – that are entered on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. Causes of death are commonly reported by the underlying cause of death.   

See also associated cause(s) of death, underlying cause of death

Persistent and long-lasting.

A health condition or disease that exists at the same time as (an)other health condition(s).

A representation of clinical conditions designed to summarise what is known about the disease epidemiology, the nature of the disease (that is, whether it is chronic, acute, episodic or progressive), and its treatment.

A broad term that can be applied to any health problem, including symptoms, diseases and certain risk factors, such as high blood cholesterol and obesity. Often used synonymously with disease, disorder or problem.

A burden (YLD, YLL or DALY) rate derived from the number of years of healthy life lost recorded in a population during a specified time period divided by the number of people in the population, without adjustments for other factors such as age.

See also age-standardisation, age-standardised rate

In burden of disease analysis, any departure from an ideal health state.

A measure of healthy life lost in a population. Presented as years of life lost through premature death or living with disability due to illness or injury. It is the basic unit used in burden of disease and injury estimates. Often used synonymously with health loss.  

See also burden of disease (and injury), years of life lost (YLL), years lived with disability (YLD)

A factor that reflects the severity of health loss from a particular health state on a scale from 0 (perfect health) to 1 (equivalent to death).

A broad term that can be applied to any health problem, including symptoms, diseases, injuries and certain risk factors, such as high blood cholesterol and obesity. Often used synonymously with condition, disorder or problem.

The reduction that would occur in overall disease burden if all groups had the same rate of burden as the least burdened group.

The environmental event, circumstance or condition that causes injury, poisoning and other adverse effects (for example, road traffic accident).

The burden from dying prematurely as measured by years of life lost. Often used synonymously with years of life lost, and also referred to as ‘life lost’.

See also years of life lost (YLL)

People who have identified themselves, or have been identified by a representative (for example, their parent or guardian), as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. Also 'Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (people)'.

The average number of years that a person at a specific age can expect to live in full health; that is, taking into account years lived in less than full health due to the health consequences of disease and/or injury.

See also life expectancy

The difference between an individual or group’s current state of health and full health, as measured by disability-adjusted life years. Often used synonymously with burden of disease.

See also burden of disease, disability-adjusted life years (DALY)

Reflects a combination of signs and symptoms that result in health loss, and are not necessarily unique to one particular disease. A health state might also be a severity level of a sequela (typically mild, moderate and severe levels are distinguished). For example, the health state ‘mild heart failure’ is used as a sequela of coronary heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, congenital heart disease and several other conditions. Each health state is associated with a disability weight.

An episode of hospital care that starts with the formal admission process and ends with the formal separation process (synonymous with separation).

Proportion or rate of new cases (of an illness or injury) within a specified period in a population.

A data item that records whether a person has identified themselves or has been identified by a representative (for example, their parent or guardian), as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.

See also First Nations people

The World Health Organization’s internationally accepted classification of diseases and related health conditions. Mortality data sourced from the AIHW’s National Mortality Database (NMD) are coded using the ICD-10, 10th revision. The 10th revision, Australian modification (ICD-10-AM) is currently in use in Australian hospitals for admitted patients. 

The number of years a person of a particular age can expect to live.

See also health-adjusted life expectancy

A disease or injury for which there is evidence that its likelihood is increased by the risk factor.

Ill health in an individual, and levels of ill health in a population or group.

Number or rate of deaths in a population during a given time period.

The burden from living with ill-health as measured by years lived with disability. Often used synonymously with years lived with disability.

See also years lived with disability (YLD)

The proportion (fraction) of a disease, illness, disability or death in a population that can be attributed to a particular risk factor or combination of risk factors.

Deaths that occur at a younger age than a selected cut-off. In the ABDS, it is defined as dying before the global ideal life span at the age of death. 

 The number of new and pre-existing cases (of an illness or injury) in a population at a specific time or period of time. The prevalence rate is the number of cases existing at a point in time (point prevalence) or over a specified time period (period prevalence) divided by the number of people in the population.

See also incidence 

A burden (YLD, YLL or DALY) rate is one number (the numerator) divided by another number (the denominator). The numerator is commonly the number of years of healthy life lost in a specified time. The denominator is the population at risk of the event. Rates (crude, age-specific and age-standardised) are generally multiplied by a number such as 1,000 to create whole numbers.

A method in a burden of disease study for reassigning deaths with an underlying cause of death that is not in the study’s disease list. Typically, the deaths reassigned include: those with a case that is implausible as an underlying cause of death; those that relate to an intermediate cause in the chain of events leading to death; or those for which there is insufficient detail to ascertain a specific cause of death.

See also underlying cause of death

A table that shows, for each age, the number of remaining years a person could expect to live according to their average life expectancy. Used to measure the years of life lost from dying at each age.

The risk of an event relative to exposure, calculated as the ratio of the probability of the event occurring in the exposed group to the probability of it occurring in the non-exposed group. A relative risk of 1 implies no difference in risk; RR <1 implies the event is less likely to occur in the exposed group; RR >1 implies the event is more likely to occur in the exposed group.

Any factor that represents a greater risk of a health condition or health event. For example, smoking, alcohol use, high body mass.

Health consequences of diseases and injuries, such as heart failure due to coronary heart disease. Each sequela may be mapped to one or more health states.

The distribution of exposure to a risk factor that would have the lowest associated population risk.

The sum of fatal burden (YLL) and non-fatal burden (YLD), which totals  disability-adjusted life years (DALY).

See also burden of disease (and injury)

The disease or injury that initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury.   

See also cause(s) of death and associated cause(s) of death

The effect on a population of ill health from disease or injury. Presented as the number of years of what could have been a healthy life that were instead spent living with disease or injury. Also known as non-fatal burden.  

See also burden of disease (and injury), disability-adjusted life years (DALY), years of life lost (YLL)

The effect on a population of premature death due to disease or injury. Presented as the number of years of life lost due to premature death, defined as dying before the ideal life span. Also known as fatal burden.  

See also burden of disease (and injury), disability-adjusted life years (DALY), years lived with disability (YLD)