CAUSE OF DEATH AND TREATMENT TYPE

Proportions presented in this section refer to numbers of deaths of persons who accessed mental health-related treatments as a proportion of all deaths in Australia. See Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 for a description of mental health-related services and prescription medications subsidised under the MBS and PBS.

There were 153,451 deaths of persons in Australia in 2011-12 (between 10 August 2011 and 27 September 2012 inclusive). Around half (49.4% or 75,858 deaths) of these persons had accessed mental health-related treatments in 2011, comprising mainly use of medications (with 48.1% of these persons accessing PBS subsidised mental health-related medications in 2011) and only a relatively small proportion of these persons (6.0%) accessing mental health-related services.

Amongst the 153,451 deaths of persons in Australia, the most commonly accessed mental health-related medications were antidepressants, with 29.4% (45,039 persons) accessing this type of medication in 2011, while mental health-related consultations with general practitioners (GPs) were the most commonly accessed service, with 4.2% (6,472 persons) having accessed this type of service. Note that consultations with GPs that may have involved discussion of mental health issues but were not recorded as mental health-related services were not captured in the Mental Health Services-Census-Mortality Integrated Dataset.



Across causes of death, the types of mental health-related treatments that persons accessed differed considerably. Of all persons with Intentional self-harm as an underlying cause of death (2,295 persons), almost one third (31.0% or 712 persons) had accessed mental health-related services in 2011, the highest proportion of persons accessing mental health-related services across all leading causes of death.

Of all persons with Chronic lower respiratory disease as an underlying cause of death (7,002 persons), more than half (56.7% or 3,970 persons) had accessed mental health-related medications in 2011. Similarly, persons with cancer as an underlying cause of death had relatively high rates of accessing mental health-related medications: 56.9% of all deaths of persons from Prostate cancer, 54.1% of all deaths of persons from Lung cancer (Cancer of the trachea, bronchus or lung) and 54.0% of all deaths of persons from Breast cancer.



Antidepressants were most commonly accessed by persons whose underlying cause of death was Chronic lower respiratory diseases (2,664 persons, or 38.0% of all deaths of persons from Chronic lower respiratory diseases). Amongst all persons whose cause of death was Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (9,887 persons), almost one-third (32.3%, or 3,195 persons) had accessed antipsychotics in 2011.

Hypnotics and sedatives were most commonly accessed by persons whose cause of death was Prostate cancer or Lung cancer, with around one quarter of all deaths of persons from these causes having accessed these medications in 2011 (25.6% and 24.2% of all deaths of persons from Prostate cancer and Lung cancer respectively).