The AIHW has just released its latest reports examining the health of Australia’s men and women, revealing that 40% and 34% respectively of their disease burden could have been prevented.
COVID featured for the first time in the top 5 leading causes of illness and death for both men and women, though males were more affected. COVID was the fifth leading cause for men aged over 65, the third for men aged over 85, and emerged as the fifth leading cause of death for Australian women 85 years and older.
More than half (56%) of Australian women had one or more of 10 leading chronic health conditions and lost the most health-years of life from living with disease and injury (58%), whereas 49% of Australian men had one or more conditions, but lost more health-years due to dying prematurely (54%).
The leading causes of disease burden for males were cancer (19%), cardiovascular diseases (14%), mental health conditions/substance use disorders (11%), injuries (11%), and musculoskeletal conditions (11%) – there were over 1.8 million back problems reported by men (19%).
Comparatively, females were most impacted by cancer (16%), musculoskeletal disorders (16%), mental and substance use disorders (12%), cardiovascular (11%), and neurological diseases (10%).
The most common cancer diagnosis in males were prostate cancer and melanoma – especially in males aged over 40 – colorectal cancer, and lung cancer, with leukaemia and brain cancer the most frequent diagnosis for males aged under 20.
The estimated age-specific incidence of all cancers increased sharply from age 45, but for younger men, suicide and self-inflicted injuries were the leading cause of total burden for males aged 15–44, with 37% of young men aged 15-24 dying at their own hands in 2019-2021 – exacerbated by alcohol use disorders, which ranked as the second leading burden on males in this age group.
Young women were also significantly impacted by mental health, with anxiety disorders the leading cause of ill health and death for females aged 15-44, while for those aged 65 and over, dementia emerged as the most significant risk – impacting nearly 252,000 Australian females aged 30 years and over and accounting for 13% of all female deaths in 2020.
By comparison, dementia was the second leading cause of death in males overall, accounting for 6.8% of all male deaths in 2020 from 149,600 men aged 30 years and over currently living with the condition.
The two leading health risk factors measured by the Australian Burden of Disease Study for dementia were being overweight (including obesity) and physical inactivity, contributing 20% and 11%, respectively to the total burden due to dementia, with other modifiable risk factors including low levels of education in early life and hearing loss in middle age.
Interestingly, more than half of men surveyed reported having at least one STD over the past 12 months with syphilis making a comeback – rates of infection for this STD were three times higher in 2021 compared with 2012, dominated by men aged 30-39 years.
Rates of syphilis were 6.4 times higher for women, with the highest rates seen in females aged 20–24.
The reports also revealed that 88% of women aged 15+ had visited a GP within the last 12 months during 2021-2022, but only 79% of males reported a similar frequency.