Respiratory and Cardiovascular Diseases and Cancer Among Residents in the Hunter New England Area Health Service

Summary

This report focuses on those diseases and causes of death that have been found to be associated with exposure to air pollutants. Analysis has also been undertaken on some diseases about which the community of the Hunter New England Area Health Service (HNEAHS) of New South Wales (NSW) has expressed a concern.

This report uses reliable, routinely collected health data to:

• assess the health of the residents of the HNEAHS of NSW
  
• compare the health of the residents of the HNEAHS to the health of residents in other parts of NSW
  
• examine variation in health within HNEAHS in relation to the distribution of coal mining and coal-powered electrical power generation activity within this area.