Chronic Diseases

WHAT IS A CHRONIC DISEASE?

Chronic diseases are ailments lasting longer than 6 months. These do not have to there all the time, they can come and go.

Many people with chronic disease do not have a single, predominant disease, but rather they experience the presence of 2 or more chronic diseases at the same time.

THE STATISTICS

2017-2018

Just under half (47.3%) of Australians had one or more chronic disease in 2017-18, an increase from 2007-08 when two-fifths (42.2%) of people had one or more chronic disease.

Chronic health diseases experienced in Australia in 2017-18 were:

• Mental and behavioural conditions – 4.8 million people (20.1%)
• Back problems – 4.0 million people (16.4%)
• Arthritis – 3.6 million people (15.0%)
• Asthma – 2.7 million people (11.2%)
• Diabetes mellitus- 1.2 million people (4.9%) comprising Type 1 Diabetes – 144,800 people (0.6%) and Type 2 Diabetes – 998,100 people (4.1%)
• Heart, stroke and vascular disease – 1.2 million people (4.8%)
• Osteoporosis – 924,000 people (3.8%)
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – 598,800 people (2.5%)
• Cancer – 432,400 people (1.8%)
• Kidney disease – 237,800 people (1.0%)

THAT IS…

• 1 in 2 Australians (47%) had 1 or more of the 10 top chronic diseases
• 1 in 2 hospitalisations (51%) involved 1 of the 10 top chronic diseases
• Nearly 9 out of 10 (89%) of deaths were associated with the 10 top chronic diseases
• 1 in 5 Australians (20%) had 2 or more of the top 10 chronic diseases
• The rates of chronic disease were higher for adults in the lowest socioeconomic areas

2020-2021

In 2020-2021, nearly half of all Australians (46.6%) had at least one chronic condition, with 18.6% of people experiencing two or more chronic conditions. Women aged 18 years and over were more likely than men to have at least one chronic condition (56.5% compared to 49.5%). **PLEASE NOTE:  The National Health Survey 2020-2021 was collected online during the COVID-19 pandemic and is a break in time series. Data should be used for point-in-time analysis only and can’t be compared to previous years.**

The most prevalent chronic conditions experienced in Australia in 2020-21 were:

• Mental and behavioural conditions – 20.1%
• Back problems – 15.7%
• Arthritis – 12.5%
• Asthma – 10.7%
• Diabetes – 5.3%, comprised of Type 1 diabetes (0.6%) and Type 2 diabetes (4.5%)
• Heart, stroke and vascular disease – 4.0%
• Osteoporosis – 3.6%
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – 1.5%
• Cancer – 1.6%
• Kidney disease – 1.1%

LET US HELP YOU

If you don’t do something about it now, the chances of you becoming one of these statistics are pretty high, you may even be suffering from at least one now.

Acupuncture has long been a therapeutic and effective tool to treat ailments of varying type and severity. In fact, in China, Traditional Chinese Medicine (of which acupuncture is a component of) is used in the treatment of chronic illness in a primary care setting.

Learn more about Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine here.