Introduction and summary |
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Introduction and summary |
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This chapter focuses on trends in life expectancy and death rates in NSW, and examines major causes of death and potential years of life lost. It uses data on deaths compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Since Federation in 1900, all deaths for which a coronial inquiry is not required must be certified as to cause and date by a registered medical practitioner and the certificate registered by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages in each State or Territory. Most deaths due to accidental causes, deaths occurring under suspicious circumstances (in which foul play cannot be excluded), deaths occurring shortly after anaesthesia or surgery and deaths occurring in persons who had not been seen by a medical practitioner in the year preceding their death automatically become coronial cases and are registered by a coroner at the conclusion of an inquiry into the circumstances of the death. This may take months to years. Each year, all State and Territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages and all coroners forward details of all deaths which they have registered in that calendar year to the ABS. Currently, a single code for a single underlying cause of death is applied. Starting in 1998, multiple cause-of-death codes will be applied to each death record if more than one cause contributes to the death.
Data presented in this chapter are based on year of death, rather than year of registration. Details of the methods used to calculate life expectancy, age-adjust death rates and to calculate and interpret confidence intervals can be found in the Methods section.
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In NSW, between 1985 and 1994, life expectancy at birth increased steadily, by 2.9 years for males (from 72.2 to 75.1 years) and by 2.1 years for females (from 78.8 to 80.9 years). [See Life expectancy at birth] |
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Though NSW females can still expect to live longer than males, the difference between the sexes has decreased, from 6.6 years in 1985 to 5.8 years in 1994. [See Life expectancy at birth] |
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In 1994, the expected age at death at the age of 65 years was 84.5 years for NSW women and 81.0 years for men. [See Expected age at death at the age of 65 years] |
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The age-adjusted death rate in NSW decreased by 43 per cent over the period 1964 to 1994, from 1189 to 680 per 100,000 population. [See Deaths from all causes] |
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In the period 1990 to 1994, the state’s lowest age-adjusted death rates were found in the Northern Sydney Health Area, with the highest death rates in the Far West Health Area. [See Deaths from all causes by health area] |
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In 1994, most deaths in NSW of children aged 0-14 years occurred in the first two years of life, and were due to perinatal conditions and congenital anomalies. Injury or poisoning was the next most common cause of death in this age group. [See Causes of death 0-14 years] |
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The most important causes of death in males and females aged 15-64 years were cancer, circulatory diseases and injury and poisoning. [See Causes of death 15-64 years] |
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Circulatory diseases were the most important causes of death in people aged 65 years and over, followed by cancers and respiratory diseases. [See Causes of death 65+ years] |
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Cancers were the most important category of causes of potential years of life lost (PYLL) before the age of 75 in females, followed by injury and poisoning and circulatory diseases. For males, injury and poisoning was the largest category of causes of PYLL, followed by cancers and circulatory diseases. [See Potential years of life lost] |
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Among individual causes of death, breast cancer was the single largest cause of PYLL in females, followed by ischaemic heart disease, motor vehicle traffic accidents, lung cancer and suicide. Ischaemic heart disease was the single largest cause of PYLL in males, followed by suicide, motor vehicle traffic accidents, lung cancer and colorectal cancer. [See Potential years of life lost] |