About this report
About this report
The health of the people of NSW-Report of the Chief Health Officer, has been produced since 1996 and has become a flagship publication of the NSW Department of Health. It provides an overview of key population health indicators, health inequalities, emerging health priorities and new health data sources.
The health of the people of NSW-Report of the Chief Health Officer consists of three components: the electronic report or e-CHO, is an interactive web-based report providing, as in previous years, graphs and complete data tables and explanatory text on over 400 population health indicators, as well as files for each indicator which can be downloaded by users; Data books of each chapter in portable document format (pdf) containing all graphs and tables on a particular topic, can be printed from the website at http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/publichealth/chorep ; and the new Summary Report in hard copy, which provides summary tables of trends in key population health indicators, a comparison of differences in key indicators among the eight NSW health areas, an overview of each chapter of the e-CHO and a detailed analysis of two special topics-this year on inequalities in mortality and childhood overweight and obesity. The Summary Report can also be downloaded from the website at http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/publichealth/chorep .
The latest available data are presented, including, in this release, hospitalisation data to 2006-07, deaths data to 2006, NSW Population Health Survey data to 2007, mothers and babies data to 2006, cancer incidence and screening data to 2006, and communicable diseases data to 2007. The 2008 report uses estimated residential populations based on the 2006 Australian Census of Population and Housing and the Australian standard population based on the 2001 Census for calculating age-standardised rates for comparing trends over time. Geographical areas were grouped according to Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Remoteness categories on the basis of Accessibility/Remoteness Index for Australia (ARIA+ version) score which were based on the 2006 Census boundaries. Socioeconomic Indices for Areas (SEIFA) based on the 2006 Census have been also used in the report. Details of methods used in this report can be found in the the Methods chapter
Content
The report has four sections: Determinants of health, Burden of disease, Health inequalities and Health priority areas.
Each of the four sections of the report is divided into several chapters.
Section One, Determinants of health: includes chapters on the NSW population, social determinants of health, the environment, and health-related behaviours. The social determinants of health chapter provides updated data on income, social welfare benefits, crime rates and socioeconomic scores by the new health area boundaries in NSW. The chapter on the environment updates indicators of air and water quality and includes data on sources of drinking water used in urban and rural areas, unflued gas and wood heaters, and healthy living practices in Aboriginal communities in NSW. The health-related behaviours chapter presents updates on the key health risk factors of smoking, sun protection, physical activity, obesity and overweight, nutrition and alcohol consumption and includes information sexual health behaviours and illicit drug use.
Section Two, Burden of disease: presents information about the major causes of disease burden currently in NSW, life expectancy, death rates, causes of death and causes of hospitalisation and international comparisons of life expectancy, infant mortality, self-rated health status, and ambulatory care sensitive conditions. Arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, and dementia are also included there.
Section Three, Health inequalities: examines differentials in health among population groups. Chapters examine inequalities among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including the health of Aboriginal people in custody, overseas-born people, NSW trends in the burden or mortality by socioeconomic groups and inequalities in rural and remote populations associated with the degree of remoteness from major service centres, using the ARIA+ index.
Section Four, Health priority areas: presents recent information on key health issues including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancer, respiratory disease, injury and poisoning, mental health, oral health, pregnancy and the newborn period, and communicable diseases. There are numerous new indicators, especially in the first two chapters and a more concise presentation of information throughout this section.
Sources and methods
This report uses data from a wide variety of sources. Most data sets were accessed and analysed via the Health Outcomes Information Statistical Toolkit (HOIST) datamart. Descriptions of the data sets, details of the analytic methods used, and guidance on how to interpret charts, are given in the Methods chapter.
Web version
The web (HTML) version of this report includes downloadable version of the charts and data tables. These are provided to facilitate re-use of the information contained in the report. You are encouraged to use these downloadable files in other documents or presentations, provided that no changes to the data are made and that the source is acknowledged.
Please note that commercial use or resale of these downloadable files or any other information contained in this report is prohibited.
The Web version of the report will also be updated regularly so that it reflects the most recently available data.
Print version with data
Although this page can be printed directly from your Web browser, a higher quality version of this entire page (graph, table and text) is available as an Acrobat PDF file which can be printed or viewed on screen using free software.
Copyright notice
This work is copyright NSW Department of Health, 2008. It may be reproduced in whole or in part, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source. Commercial usage or sale is prohibited.
Suggested citation
Population Health Division. The health of the people of New South Wales - Report of the Chief Health Officer. Sydney: NSW Department of Health. Available at: www.health.nsw.gov.au/publichealth/chorep/. Accessed (insert date of access).
Produced by
Centre for Epidemiology and Research, Population Health Division, NSW Department of Health.
Last updated on 18 December 2008
