Introduction
In this section
Introduction
Mortality
Introduction
There is growing evidence that inequality in mortality among socioeconomic groups within countries, including Australia, have widened over time. In Australia, this is generally due to greater declines in the rate of mortality among those of higher socioeconomic status, but also results from actual increases in mortality for some conditions among the most disadvantaged (for example, diabetes mellitus and asthma and emphysema in both sexes, and lung cancer in women) (Turrell and Mathers, 2000b).
This section considers the trends across socioeconomic groups in NSW of several key health indicators, many of which relate to various forms of potentially avoidable conditions. These include premature mortality from all causes (death before the age of 75); potentially unavoidable and avoidable deaths, with the avoidable deaths being split into those amenable to primary, secondary or tertiary prevention; avoidable hospitalisations, and teenage pregnancy.
Potentially avoidable deaths refer to deaths before the age of 75 that 'should not occur in the presence of effective and timely health care' (Nolte and McKee 2005). Deaths amenable to primary prevention could be avoided based on current knowledge of the causes of the disease and consequent promotion of healthy lifestyle (such as healthy eating, and encouraging exercise) or legislative change (for instance against smoking in public buildings). Those amenable to secondary prevention could have been prevented by vaccination, screening or other early intervention practices. Tertiary preventable causes of death could be prevented by timely medical intervention. These categories are based on the work of Jackson and Tobias (2001).
Avoidable hospitalisations refer to those conditions where hospitalisation could be avoided by timely primary health care (by GP services or community health centres). As this primary care is usually in the form of a 'walk in' consultation, these conditions are referred to as 'ambulatory-care sensitive' hospitalisations.
The codes that were used for potentially avoidable deaths and hospitalisations are based a review of Tobias and Jackson's (2001) codes undertaken by the Public Health Information and Development Unit as part of a national project to standardise the disease categories and exclusion criteria used (for further information see http://www.publichealth.gov.au/projects.htm). Also of note is that the ABS released a new SEIFA index based on the 2001 Census. This is not exactly the same as the disadvantage indices from previous censuses due to a review of methodology, however according to the ABS Information Paper, the index of disadvantage from the 2001 census uses the same method and same variables, and 'is most comparable to its 1996 counterpart' (ABS 2001). Small area boundaries (statistical local areas) used by the ABS also changed significantly for the 2001 census. Consequently, some adjustment of boundaries between the health data, population data and disadvantage index was required. New standard populations based on the 2001 census were also used. All these factors have resulted in some slight changes in the numbers of events and/or directly stand in the different population socioeconomic categories. Further details on the Methods used in this report can be found in the Methods section.
- For more information:
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Turrell G, Stanley L, de Looper M, Oldenburg B. Health Inequalities in Australia: Morbidity, health behaviours, risk factors and health service use. Health Inequalities Monitoring Series No. 2. AIHW Cat. No. PHE 72. Canberra: Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2006. Available at www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10272.
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Adhikari P. Socio-economic indexes for areas: Introduction, use and Future direction. ABS Catalogue no. 1351.0.55.015. Canberra: ABS, 2006. Available at www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/1351.0.55.015Sep%202006?OpenDocument
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Begg S, Vos T, Barker B. et al. The burden of disease and injury in Australia, 2003. PHE 82. Canberra: AIHW, 2007. Available at www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10317
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Draper G, Turrell G, Oldenburg B. Health inequalities in Australia: Mortality. Health Inequalities Monitoring Series No. 1. AIHW Cat. No. PHE 55. Canberra: Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2004. Available at www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10041.
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Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia's health 2008. Cat. no. AUS 99. Canberra: AIHW, 2008. Available at: www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10585
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- Rider:
- The information presented in this resource result from analyses of a variety of social and health focused data sets. These data sets originate from a variety of sources including Hunter New England Health, the NSW Department of Health, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The timing of the release of these data to third parties is controlled by the owner of these data. It is therefore possible for these organisations to publish data that they have not yet made available to Hunter New England Population Health for analysis and release. Users should therefore check the publications of these organisations as it is possible that they may have published even more up to date information on Hunter New England than those available in this resource. As this resource is an ongoing project, the indicators presented will be updated as soon as possible after the release of all data sets to Hunter New England Population Health.
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© NSW Department of Health and Hunter New England Health 2010. - Suggested citation:
- Hunter New England Population Health, Health in Hunter New England HealtheResource, Hunter New England Area Health Service, 2010. Available at: http://www2.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/HNEPH/HHNE/ses/sesIntro.htm - Accessed (insert date of access).
- Contributors:
- Assistance from NSW Department of Health: This resource is modified from work undertaken for the production of the electronic and hard copy versions of the report Health of the people of NSW Report of the Chief Health Officer, (http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/public-health/chorep/) by the Centre for Epidemiology and Research of the NSW Department of Health. This work includes research and definition of indicators, programming framework, statistical programs, text and programming infrastructure for web publishing. Hunter New England Population Health has produced a local version of the report reflecting local concerns, where appropriate, and ensuring that only minimal changes were made in other parts of the text and presentation in the interest of consistency at a state level.
- Produced by:
- Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Health, with assistance from Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Health and modified from the electronic report Health of the people of NSW Report of the Chief Health Officer, (http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/public-health/chorep/
- Last updated:
- 21 May 2010
- See NSW Data:
- To view state data, relating to this indicator go to the report Health of the people of NSW: Report of the Chief Health Officer. (http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/public-health/chorep/) or intranet version
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