Introduction

Regional health profiles are impacted by the sociodemographic characteristics of the area. Age distributions, in particular, influence the types and levels of health conditions that are more common.

Adjusting for age effects

The effects of age can be removed using a statistical technique called age-standardisation. When the effects of age are controlled, other factors that may be impacting health become more apparent. Age-standardisation is commonly used in situations where differences in age structures are likely to occur, such as over time or between regions. Age-standardised rates (ASR or standardised rates) are used throughout this report to highlight changes in health status that are for reasons other than age, with exception to the self-reported selected long-term health conditions section.

Age distributions are considered when making service deliver decisions, however, to better represent current and anticipated service delivery needs. Crude rates, that have not been adjusted by age, may be more useful for that purpose. In this section, both types of rates are frequently provided. Conditions that are more influenced by age are highlighted in text.

Understanding Queensland results in this section

For health indicators that are less common, smaller populations in regional areas means that multiple years may be combined to produce reliable results. For comparison, Queensland results have also been provided for this same time period. Queensland results provided for comparative purposes may therefore differ from Queensland results in the main sections of this report, which focuses primarily on annual results.

Another difference with Queensland results in this section is that they may be derived from a different data source than in the main sections of this report. This is because regional information was not available from the same source.

Regional rates based on small counts (less than 25 deaths, hospitalisations or cases) are less reliable and are provided but typically not discussed in text.

Mortality

A selection of mortality rates are described below. Additional mortality rates are available in the Figure 1 data dashboard.

All cause mortality:

  • Crude all cause mortality rates were highest in Wide Bay HHS, Central West HHS and Darling Downs HHS (977.5, 887.2, and 784.9 per 100,000 persons, respectively)
  • Standardised all cause mortality rates were highest in North West HHS, Central West HHS and South West HHS regions (783.9, 635.3, 590.7 per 100,000 persons, respectively).

Mortality due to 7 lifestyle-related chronic conditions:

  • The regions with the highest crude mortality rates for 7 lifestyle-related chronic conditions were Wide Bay HHS, Central West HHS and South West HHS regions (440.5, 427.6 and 384.5 per 100,000 persons 15 years and older)
  • The regions with the highest age-standardised mortality rates for 7 lifestyle-related chronic conditions were North West HHS, South West HHS and Central West HHS regions (357.5, 301.5 and 301.5 per 100,000 persons age 15 years and older).

Coronary heart disease:

  • The regions with the highest crude mortality rates were Central West HHS, Wide Bay HHS and Darling Downs HHS regions (119.8, 107.5 and 97.2 per 100,000 persons, respectively).

Hospitalisations

A selection of hospitalisation rates are described below. Additional hospitalisation rates are available in the Figure 1 data dashboard.

For all-cause hospitalisation:

  • Crude rates were highest in North West HHS, Wide Bay HHS and Sunshine Coast HHS regions (76,999, 64,132 and 59,239 per 100,000 persons, respectively).
  • The regions with the highest age-standardised rates were North West HHS, Torres and Cape HHS and Townsville HHS regions (82,977, 63,877 and 56,040 per 100,000 persons).

Total potentially preventable hospitalisations:

  • Crude rates were highest in North West HHS, Torres and Cape HHS and Central West HHS regions (6,594, and 5,792 and 5,084 per 100,000 persons, respectively).

Falls in persons 65 years or more:

  • The regions with the highest crude hospitalisation rates were Gold Coast HHS, Sunshine Coast HHS and Townsville HHS (5,420, 5,070 and 5,006 per 100,000 persons 65 years or more, respectively).

Figure 1: Mortality and hospitalisations by region, Queensland

Cancer

Cancer and other neoplasms is the group of conditions with the highest disease burden, cause the most deaths, and is ranked third among Australian jurisdictions in health system expenditure.

A selection of cancer indicators are described below. Additional cancer indicators are available in the Figure 2 data dashboard. Screening

From 2019 to 2020:

  • Breast cancer participation rates were highest in Townsville HHS (63.6%), Mackay HHS (60.6%) and Central West HHS (57.9%).

From 2020 to 2021:

  • Bowel cancer screening participation rates were highest in Sunshine Coast HHS (42.2%), Wide Bay HHS (42.1%) and Metro North HHS (39.0%).

Incidence

In 2020:

  • The regions with the highest crude all cancer incidence were Wide bay HHS, Sunshine Coast HHS and Central West HHS (958.1, 779.3 and 727.6 per 100,000 persons, respectively).
  • The regions with the highest crude incidence of melanoma were Wide Bay HHS, Darling Downs HHS and Sunshine Coast HHS (134.0, 97.1 and 96.9 per 100,000 persons, respectively).
  • The regions with the highest crude incidence of breast cancer among females were Wide Bay HHS, Sunshine Coast HHS and Gold Coast HHS (172.4, 165.5 and 149.2 per 100,000 females, respectively).

Mortality

In 2020:

  • Crude cancer mortality rates were highest in Wide Bay HHS, Central West HHS and South West HHS regions (322.1, 304.8 and 242.6 per 100,000 persons, respectively).
  • The regions with the highest crude mortality rates for lung cancer were Wide Bay HHS, Cairns and Hinterland HHS and Central Queensland HHS (74.4, 46.3 and 45.5 per 100,000 persons, respectively).
  • The regions with the highest crude mortality rates for prostate cancer were Wide Bay HHS, Cairns and Hinterland HHS and Sunshine Coast HHS (50.1, 42.6 and 37.9 per 100,000 males).

Figure 2: Cancer screening, incidence and mortality by region, Queensland

Selected long-term health conditions

In the 2021 Census, questions about long-term health condition were asked for the first time.1 While other data sources, such as the NHS,2 remain the recommended primary source for long-term condition prevalence, the 2021 Census data provide important regional insights.3

For example, in 2021, about:

  • 42.3% of people in Wide Bay HHS reported having at least one long-term health condition—56.4% for those 45 years and older. Of all people in Wide Bay HHS, 15.4% reported having arthritis and 12.0% reported having a mental health condition (including depression or anxiety). Having three or more long-term health conditions was reported by 6.3% (10.7% for adults 45 years and older).
  • 36.4% of people in Darling Downs HHS reported having at least one long-term health condition—52.8% for those 45 years and older. Of all people in Darling Downs HHS, 4.4% reported having three or more long-term health conditions (8.9% for adults 45 years and older).

Figure 3: Selected long-term health conditions by region, Queensland 2021

Please see the Chronic diseases page for the Queensland result. Also, please refer to technical note below and on the Notes tab in Figure 3 for further information about these results.

Additional information

Data and statistics

Data in this section were sourced from:

Further information

Australian Bureau of Statistics:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare:

Section technical notes

The 7 lifestyle-related chronic conditions (with ICD-10-AM codes) include: breast cancer (C50), lung cancer (C33-C34), colorectal cancer (C18-C20), COPD (J41-J44), coronary heart disease (I20-I25), cerebrovascular disease and related syndromes (I60-I69 & G45-G46), and diabetes (E10-E14).

The ABS recommends the use of other data sources than the Census, such as the NHS, to understand the prevalence of diseases in Australia, due to various Census data limitations.3 See Comparing ABS long-term health conditions data sources on the ABS website for further details. Other factors to consider when interpreting the Census long-term health condition information are:

  • When comparing across regions, it is important to note that older people are at higher risk of developing long-term health conditions. Regions with higher proportions of older people, such as Wide Bay HHS (with more than a quarter of the population 65 years and older in 2020), are likely to also have higher proportion of people with these conditions.
  • the proportion who did not state whether they have long-term health conditions varied by region—ranging from 6.9% in Metro North HHS to 15.2% in Torres and Cape HHS. The proportion of participants with missing responses who may have a long-term health condition is unknown. In line with ABS reporting, missing responses were included in calculations (in the proportion denominator) and results should be interpreted accordingly.

References

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2022. Long-term health conditions. Accessed: 13 June 2023.
  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2018. National health survey: first results, 2017-18. Accessed: 1 February 2023.
  3. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2022. Comparing ABS long-term health conditions data sources. Accessed: 13 June 2023.

Last updated: February 2024

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