The main conditions that cause death in Australia

In 2022, four in five Australians had multiple conditions at the time of death listed on their death certificate, and almost a quarter had five or more conditions recorded.

This is one of the many key findings of a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The report distinguishes between three types of causes of death: underlying, direct and contributory.

An underlying cause It is the condition that starts the chain of events that lead to death, such as coronary heart disease.

The direct cause of death is the cause of the person’s death, for example, a heart attack.

The contributory causes that significantly influence the chain of events that lead to death, but are not directly related to death, for example, high blood pressure.

The report also tracks how these three types of causes can overlap and lead to deaths from multiple causes.

In 2022, the top five conditions causing deaths in Australia were coronary heart disease (20 per cent of deaths),dementia (18 percent), hypertension or high blood pressure (12 percent), cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke (11.5 percent) and diabetes (11.4%).

When the underlying cause of death was examined, the list was similar (coronary heart disease 10 percent, dementia 9 percent, cerebrovascular disease 5 percent, followed by and , every 5 percent). This means that coronary heart disease was not only present at the time of death, but was also the main underlying cause.

However, the study indicates that the direct cause of death is most often attributed to a lower respiratory tract condition (8 percent), cardiac or respiratory arrest (6.5 percent), sepsis (6 percent ), pneumonitis or lung inflammation (4 percent) or hypertension (4 percent).

Because it is important?

Gary Jennings, professor of medicine at the University of Sydney, says there should be a greater focus on prevention.

He says the report also helps us understand which groups we should focus on when it comes to prevention and health care – for example, the leading cause of death in women was dementia, while in men it was coronary heart disease.

People under 55 tended to die from external events, such as accidents and violence, while older people died in the context of chronic illness.

We can’t prevent death, but we can prevent many diseases and injuries, says Jennings, and this report highlights that many of these causes of death, in both young and older Australians, are preventable, he added.

It states that the five leading diseases that cause death (coronary heart disease, dementia, hypertension, cerebrovascular disease and diabetes) share common risk factors, such as tobacco use, high cholesterol, poor nutrition, inactivity physical, or are risk factors in themselves, such as hypertension or diabetes.

Tobacco use, high blood pressure, being overweight or obese, and poor diet were attributed to a combined 44 percent of all deaths in this report. This suggests that a comprehensive approach is needed for health promotion and disease prevention and treatment.

This should include strategies and programs that encourage healthy eating, participation in regular physical activity, limiting or eliminating alcohol consumption, quitting smoking, and seeing a doctor for regular health exams, such as checkups. Medicare-funded heart health services.

Programs aimed at accident prevention, mental health and violence, especially gender-based violence, cause the premature deaths of younger people, Jennings notes.

Gary Jennings is a professor of medicine at the University of Sydney. He receives funding from the National Heart Foundation and the American Heart Association.