Coronary heart disease (CHD) is involved in around one in five deaths in Australia, according to the latest figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The What do Australians die from? report looked at the leading causes of death for the 191,000 deaths recorded in Australia in 2022.
The report tallied all health conditions listed on the death certificate when determining cause of death and the AIHW says the research provides new insight into how health conditions can combine to ultimately cause a person’s death.
“Understanding what Australians die from is complex and the answer can vary, depending on how we assess the conditions involved,” says AIHW spokesperson Michelle Gourley.
“Traditionally, statistics about how people die are based primarily on the initiating or ‘underlying’ cause of death, but death certificates also contain other information that can be useful in understanding why a death occurred.”
“For example, while the underlying cause of death for a person might be CHD, the death certificate might also record the health condition that led directly to death, such as acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).
“Other conditions that significantly contributed to the death such as hypertension, diabetes, alcohol use disorders, COVID-19 and other contextual factors may also be recorded on the death certificate.”
Most deaths have more than one cause
The research showed four out of every five deaths recorded had more than one cause of death recorded, and 25 per cent of deaths had more than five listed causes.
While CHD was the most commonly recorded underlying, or main, cause of death, dementia (18 per cent), hypertension (12 per cent), cerebrovascular diseases (11 per cent) and diabetes (also 11 per cent) were other conditions commonly listed at death.
There were differences between the sexes when it came to contributing factors for deaths, with men more likely to have substance abuse disorders present such as alcoholism (2.0 per cent), tobacco addiction (1.3 per cent) or other drug dependencies (1.6 per cent).
On the other hand, women were more likely to be affected by dementia (7 per cent) and musculoskeletal conditions like osteoporosis (1.9 per cent) and osteoarthritis (1.5 per cent) at the time of their deaths.
Chronic conditions biggest threat for older Aussies
For the 55 and over age group, chronic conditions such as CHD, dementia and cancer were the most common underlying causes of death. The final push over the edge in many of these cases were complications from these chronic conditions, such as infections, cardiac arrest and respiratory failure.
Diabetes, hypertension, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and dementia were common contributorsto deaths at older ages.
For people aged between 15 and 54, external causes of death such as suicide, road accidents and accidental poisoning were most common.
Ms Gourley says by looking at the underlying, contributing and direct causes of death in unison will give health professionals a more holistic view of the end-of-life process.
“Using different ways of looking at causes of death can enhance our understanding of the roles played by different diseases and conditions in a person’s health and in their death,” she says.
“This can lead to a better awareness of what health conditions have the biggest impact on the community and can aid health services and decision makers in relation to developing strategies and interventions to reduce the impact of diseases and promote better health.”
Does it surprise you that CHD is such a common cause of death? When was the last time you had your heart checked? Let us know in the comments section below.
Also read: What is ‘pre-death grief’?