Australians live longer, but half of adults suffer from chronic diseases that affect quality of life, and 60 percent are overweight or obese.
A new study released June 20 by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that 1/4 of Australians suffer from at least two chronic diseases. One in two adults has at least eight common chronic diseases, namely cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental health disease, arthritis, low back pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and diabetes.
"the number of people suffering from chronic diseases is expected to rise as Australia's population ages," said Professor Aranda (Sanchia Aranda), president of the chronic Disease Prevention Alliance (CDPA).
"in order for Australia to take the lead on the global stage, we need to address food formulation, promotion and labelling, and create an environment in which healthy eating and sports are easy and obvious choices."
The study found that 87% of deaths, 61% of the burden of disease and more than 1/3 admission were associated with chronic disease.
Obesity continues to be a high-risk factor for chronic disease. The report found that 60% of Australian adults were overweight or obese, and the proportion of severely obese people doubled. Low-income people are three times more likely to smoke and develop diabetes.
"low-income people are more than twice as likely to avoid seeing a dentist or not to take medication on a prescription basis because of cost problems," said Sandison (Barry Sandison), director of the Institute of Health and Welfare.
In addition to common diseases such as cancer, mental illness and coronary heart disease, 7 million adults and children suffer from chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma; 6.9 million suffer from arthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases such as low back pain and osteoporosis; 1.7 million adults suffer from chronic kidney disease; about 1.7 million people suffer from diabetes, of which 1.2 million are diagnosed and five hundred thousand are not diagnosed with type 2 diabetes; and three hundred and seventy six thousand people over the age of 65 suffer from dementia.