Geographical variation in disease: diabetes, cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease

With an uneven distribution of chronic disease and associated risk factors, there has been increasing interest over the years in reporting health information at small geography areas for use in health services planning.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are together large contributors to the disease burden in Australia accounting for 14%, 2.2% and 1.4% of the overall burden in 2015, respectively (AIHW 2019).

This product presents the geographical variation in the impact of type 2 diabetes, CVD and CKD at 3 geographical levels: state/territory, Primary Health Network (PHN) and Population Health Area (PHA). Refer to the Technical notes for more information on the geographical structures used in this product.

The product suite includes a series of 36 dynamic dashboards and 108 maps summarising the impact of each disease, including:

• how many people have the disease (prevalence rate)
• how many hospitalisations are related to the disease (hospitalisation rate); and
• how many people die from the disease (death rate).

Summary statistics on local health profile and population characteristics are also included to help with interpretation.

These dashboards contribute to the evidence base for developing prevention and management programs for diabetes, CVD, CKD and other chronic conditions. They may also help to guide the planning and development of community health initiatives and local health services.

Reference

AIHW 2019. Australian Burden of Disease Study: impact and causes of illness and death in Australia 2015. Australian Burden of Disease series no. 19. Cat. no. BOD 22. Canberra: AIHW.