Australian Burden of Disease Study 2015: Interactive data on risk factor burden

In 2015, 4.7% of the disease burden in Australia was due to high blood plasma glucose (including intermediate hyperglycaemia and diabetes). High blood plasma glucose was the 5th leading risk factor that contributed to disease burden.

These estimates reflect the amount of burden that could have been avoided if all people in Australia did not have high blood plasma glucose levels (including diabetes and intermediate hyperglycaemia).

High blood plasma glucose was linked to 17 diseases including type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and other diabetes, 7 cancer types, 3 cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease and dementia (see Supplementary tables).

How much burden was attributable to high blood plasma glucose?

High blood plasma glucose was responsible for the entire burden of each type of diabetes, 60% of chronic kidney disease burden and 7% of coronary heart disease burden.

Note that the following visualisation displays the top 10 linked diseases due to high blood plasma glucose.

How did burden attributable to high blood plasma glucose vary by age and sex?

High blood plasma glucose contributed to disease burden across all age groups.

Burden due to high blood plasma glucose increased with age, peaking at ages 65–84 in both males and females. Males and females experience a similar amount of disease burden from high blood plasma glucose up to age 34. Between ages 35 and 84 years, males experience 20–70% more burden due to high blood pressure than females.

In people aged less than 35 years, the most burden due to high blood plasma glucose was from type 1 diabetes, and for those aged 35 and over it was type 2 diabetes.

Did attributable burden vary by socioeconomic group?

Disease burden due to high blood plasma glucose was 2.4 times greater in the lowest (most disadvantaged) socioeconomic group compared with the highest (least disadvantaged) group.