Comparisons over time

Changes in burden over time from specific diseases or injuries may be due to changes in population size, population ageing, changes in disease prevalence, epidemics or changes to how causes are reported or coded in health data.

The estimates for 2003 and 2011 in the ABDS 2018 cannot be compared with those for 2003 and 2011 from previous Australian studies as they were developed using different methods. See Australian Burden of Disease Study: Methods and supplementary material 2018 for further information on the methods used to develop the estimates presented here.

For fatal burden (YLL) estimates, there were notable changes in cause of death coding practices over time for dementia and accidental poisoning. For non-fatal burden (YLD) estimates, morbidity data was drawn from a wide variety of sources, with varying availability and data quality over time. Therefore, comparisons over time need to be interpreted with caution. Refer to the Quality information on YLD estimates and Frequently Asked Questions for further information.

Use the interactive graphs to explore differences in age-standardised and age-specific rates of burden (DALY, YLD or YLL) in Australia for 2003, 2011 and 2018. Estimates are displayed by sex and for disease groups or by specific disease or injury.

See Chapter 7 in the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018: impact and causes of illness and death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people report for more information on changes over time in disease burden.

This interactive data visualisation compares burden of disease in Australia among Indigenous Australians over time for the years 2003, 2011 and 2018. There are 3 sections which can be customised to report data according to type of burden, start year, end year, sex, disease group and disease. The first section is a sentence which report the percent change (increase or decrease) in the rate of burden between the start and end year selected and according to the type of burden, sex, disease group and disease selected. The second section is a horizontal bar chart which compares the age-standardised rate of burden for each year according to the type of burden, start year, end year, sex, disease group and disease selected. The third section is a line graph which compares age-specific rates of burden for each year according to the type of burden, start year, end year, sex, disease group and disease selected.

Please use the ‘Download’ button at the bottom of the dashboard to generate image or PDF versions of the data.