Different measures of health status of Australians burden of disease health adjusted life expectancy DALYs life expectancy under-five mortality rate mortality morbidity incidence and prevalence

Sources of data in Australia Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Department of Human Services (DHS), Victoria

Life expectancy Average number of years of life remaining to a person at any specified age Based on current mortality patterns in the population Life expectancy at birth = average number of years a newborn can expect to live if existing mortality patterns continue over the individual’s lifetime

Health adjusted life expectancy (HALE) There is an increasing life expectancy in Australia. Are people spending their extra years of live in good or poor health? Not only are increases in life expectancy important, what also matters is that people live longer lives in better health

Health adjusted life expectancy (HALE) Estimate of the number of healthy years that a person born in a particular year can expect to live, based on current death and illness trends HALE = Life expectancy – unhealthy years

Mortality (death) Data on mortality and its causes are vital measures of a country's health status

Measures of mortality Infant mortality: risk of an infant dying between birth and one year of age in a given year (per 1000 live births) Under-5 mortality rate (U5MR): number of deaths in a given population of under-5 children during a specified time period (per 1000 live births) Maternal mortality rate: number of women dying from pregnancy related causes (per 100 000 live births)

Morbidity (ill health) Levels of disease, illness, disability and injury in an individual or population

Incidence and prevalence Incidence: the number of new cases of an illness or event during a given period Prevalence: the number or proportion of cases or incidents in a population at a given time

Burden of disease The impact of a particular disease or condition in relation to the amount of healthy life lost due to premature death, illness or disability Provides information about health conditions with the biggest impact on Australians and where the most gains can be made, so that health resources can be allocated effectively

Disability adjusted life years (DALYs) A unit of measure developed to compare the impact of different diseases and injuries on an equal basis One DALY = one healthy year of life lost due to illness or injury

DALY DALY = YLL + YLD Disability adjusted life year = years of life lost + years of life living with a disability