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Understanding diabetes mortality in Australia Diabetes in Australia Diabetes is a chronic metabolic condition where glucose levels are too high within the bloodstream. It is a manageable condition, but despite this it can lead to many complications which cause or contribute to a person's death. In 2016, Diabetes mellitus (E10-E14) was the underlying cause of 4,770 deaths, making it the seventh leading cause of death overall. The standardised death rate from diabetes was 16.2 deaths per 100,000 people, and there have been consistently higher rates of death among males compared to females. The death rate has decreased marginally over the past 10 years from 16.7 to 16.2 deaths per 100,000 people. Prior to 2016, diabetes was consistently the sixth leading cause of death in Australia. However, a change to the grouping for colorectal cancers has altered the rankings for leading causes of death in Australia, meaning that diabetes has moved to the seventh leading cause and colorectal cancer to the sixth leading cause of death. Backcasted figures using the new leading cause tabulation for colorectal cancer, ranks diabetes as the seventh leading cause of death in a ten year time series. Please see Australia's Leading Causes of Death article and Explanatory Note 37 for further information on this change. Footnote(s): (a) Standardised death rate. Deaths per 100,000 of estimated mid-year population. See Glossary for further information. (b) All causes of death data from 2006 onward are subject to a revisions process - once data for a reference year are 'final', they are no longer revised. Affected data in this table are: 2007-2013 (final), 2014 (revised), 2015-2016 (preliminary). See Explanatory Notes 55-58. See also Causes of Death Revisions, 2012 and 2013 (Technical Note) in Causes of Death, Australia, 2014 (cat. no. 3303.0). (c) The age-standardised death rates for 2012-2015 presented in this table have been recalculated using 2016-census-based population estimates. As a result, these rates may differ from those previously published. (d) Deaths registered on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication for the first time, see Explanatory Notes 12-15. For those deaths where diabetes is the underlying cause, it is common for multiple chronic conditions to also appear on the death certificate. In 2016 there were an average of 5.1 conditions listed on death certificates where diabetes was the underlying cause, compared with 3.3 conditions listed on all death certificates. Conditions commonly associated with diabetes include heart and kidney diseases. Conditions commonly associated with deaths from diabetes are shown in the graph below.
Footnote(s): a) This graph presents deaths for which Diabetes (E10-E14) is the underlying cause of death. The underlying cause of death refers to the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death. (b) Associated causes of death are all causes listed on the death certificate other than the underlying cause of death. (c) The associated causes listed are based on the WHO tabulation of leading causes. See Explanatory Notes 35-37 for further information. Groupings of deaths coded to Chapter XVIII: Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99) are not included in analysis, due to the unspecific nature of these causes. (d) Causes of death data for 2016 are preliminary and subject to a revisions process. See Explanatory Notes 55-58. (e) Deaths registered on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication for the first time, see Explanatory Notes 12-15.
There were many more deaths from other underlying causes where diabetes was also mentioned on the death certificate. In 2016, there were a total of 16,451 deaths (10.4% of all deaths) where diabetes was mentioned on the death certificate and therefore considered a contributory factor in the death. Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths include those recorded in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Data for Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have been excluded in line with national reporting guidelines (for information on issues with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification, see Explanatory Notes 59-70). Footnote(s): (a) Standardised death rate. Deaths per 100,000 of estimated mid-year population. See Glossary for further information. (b) Data are reported by jurisdiction of usual residence for NSW, Qld, WA, SA and the NT only. Data for Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have been excluded in line with national reporting guidelines. For information on issues with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification, see Explanatory Notes 59-70 (c) Causes of death data for 2016 are preliminary and subject to a revisions process, see Explanatory Notes 55-58 (d) The age-standardised death rates for 2012-2015 presented in this table have been recalculated using 2016-census-based population estimates. As a result, these rates may differ from those previously published. (e) Deaths registered on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication for the first time, see Explanatory Notes 12-15. Using the same construct for counting the number of diabetes-related deaths, there were 335 diabetes-related deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2016, with a standardised death rate of 114.4 deaths per 100,000 people. There were 557 deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2016 where diabetes was mentioned on the death certificate. Diabetes was a factor in 19.1% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths.
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