Mental health and substance use disorders causing more disease burden
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
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Mental health conditions and substance use disorders are now the second group of diseases causing illness and premature death among Australians.
The Australian Burden of Disease Study 2023 measures the impact that diseases and injuries had on the Australian population using the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) metric. It combines the years of health life lost due to living with ill health (non-fatal burden) and the years of life lost due to dying prematurely (fatal burden).
Australians lost an estimated 5.6 million years of healthy life due to living with disease (54%) and dying prematurely (46%). In recent years, there has been a shift from fatal burden to non-fatal burden making up the largest proportion of total burden.
Cancer remains the leading cause of ill-health and premature death among Australians, responsible for 17% of total burden.
In addition to cancer and mental health conditions and substance use disorders (15%), the 5 leading disease groups in 2023 included musculoskeletal conditions (13%), cardiovascular diseases (12%) and neurological conditions (8%).
The age-standardised rate of total disease burden decreased by 11% between 2003 and 2023.
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Mental health conditions and substance use disorders dominated the first half of the life course as the leading cause of disease among Australians aged 5–44.
The disease burden from mental health conditions and substance use disorders was 1.7% fatal and 98.3% non-fatal.
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health condition causing disease burden. After adjusting for age, total burden rates for anxiety disorders increased by 33% between 2003 and 2023.
Anxiety disorders were ranked the 4th leading specific cause of disease burden in 2023 behind coronary heart disease, dementia and back pain and problems. Overall, anxiety disorders were the 2nd leading cause of burden in females (behind dementia), and the leading cause of burden in females aged 15–44.
On average, Australians are living longer and spending more years in full health (meaning no disease or injury). Males and females born in 2023 can expect to live an average of 88% and 87% of their lives in full health, respectively.