There are differences in the disease load among Australians. People from lower socioeconomic levels, those who reside in rural or isolated locations, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, are disproportionately impacted. There would be a reduction in the burden of chronic disease by one-fifth if all Australians had the same disease burden as the most privileged Australians. The financial burden of chronic illnesses on society is heavy and rising. More than a third of health spending is currently spent on treating chronic illnesses; in 2018–19, roughly $24 billion of that amount was attributed to risk factors that might have been prevented. According to the Global Burden of Disease Study, risk factors like tobacco use, obesity, poor diet, high blood pressure, and alcohol consumption account for more than a third (38%) of Australia’s disease burden. In addition, half (54%) of all chronic illness fatalities in Australia are attributable to these risk factors.

In Australia, the prevalence of chronic illnesses is rising. It is anticipated that having two or more chronic illnesses at once will become more typical.  In 2017–18, 47% of Australians reported having one or more chronic diseases, up from 42% in 2007–08. This is related to several things, including the ageing of our population and risk factors including poor diet and inactivity. Diseases including arthritis, diabetes, asthma, mental illness, and back pain have increased or remained stable, and they continue to significantly impair the health of Australians. If you’re from or around Elanora, GP Elanora is there to assist you with all prevailing conditions of chronic diseases.

Better therapies and a decrease in smoking are reducing the number of deaths from several chronic diseases. Tobacco use is the modifiable risk factor with the greatest health burden, notwithstanding dramatic declines in smoking over the past few years. The distribution of illness burden based on socioeconomic group and distance continues to be inequitable. That is, distinct risk factors for chronic disease are more or less likely to be experienced by persons with varying levels of educational attainment, income, or housing stability. 

Chronic illnesses result in disabilities and sick lives. They lessen people’s capacity to enter or stay in the workforce, as well as their capacity to support their families and communities. Those with more than one chronic disease are 50% more likely than those without long-term disorders of the same age to experience disability, restriction, or limitation. Compared to 4.3% of those without chronic disease, more than one-third (35%) of persons with chronic diseases say they feel severe or very high levels of psychological distress. Compared to 55% of individuals without chronic disease, the majority of those with chronic disease (88%) report recent pain. Persons with chronic illnesses are 60% less likely to participate in the labour force, are less likely to hold a full-time job, and are more likely to be unemployed than others without chronic diseases compared to people of the same age.

It is frequently calculated that the economic costs of lower productivity far outweigh the expenditures to the government and the healthcare system. According to the data, even little changes in the incidence of chronic disease risk factors are expected to result in considerable reductions in the health burden on individuals and the healthcare system as well as in the financial and societal costs to communities, corporations, and governments.