Changes in burden over time from specific diseases or injuries may be due to changes in population size, population ageing, changes in disease prevalence (including epidemics) or changes to how causes are reported or coded in health data.
For fatal burden (YLL) estimates, notable changes in cause of death coding practices occurred over time for dementia and accidental poisoning. For non-fatal burden (YLD) estimates, morbidity data were drawn from a wide variety of sources, with varying availability and data quality over time. Of note, changes in testing practices and diagnostic criteria occurred over time for gestational diabetes. Therefore, comparisons over time for some causes need to be interpreted with caution. For example, for substance use and accidental poisoning, the 2022 projected estimates of fatal burden (YLL) were based on trend analysis starting from 2013, while dementia estimates were based on trend analysis from 2011 and gestational diabetes from 2015. See Box 1 in the Technical notes for more detail about the specific causes affected by changes to testing, diagnostic and coding practices, and the impact of these changes on burden of disease estimates.
Use the interactive graphs to explore differences in age-standardised and age-specific rates of burden (DALY, YLD or YLL) in Australia. Estimates are displayed by sex and for disease groups or by specific disease or injury for the most recent year (2022) and for years 2003, 2011, 2015 and 2018 for comparison.
As estimates for COVID-19 are only for the year 2022, comparisons of disease burden due to COVID-19 over time as an individual cause are not included in this visualisation. See the Disease/injury-specific summary visualisation for burden of disease estimates for COVID-19 in 2022. For a discussion of results related to comparisons over time, refer to the Summary.
