Diabetes: Australian facts

Diabetes is a chronic condition characterised by high levels of blood glucose and is often associated with other chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease.

• The impact of diabetes can be reduced through diabetes prevention activities and better support for people living with diabetes, improving health outcomes and reducing long-term complications.
• Substantial progress has been made over many decades in improving the treatment and management of Australians living with diabetes and the prevention of new onset diabetes. Incidence and prevalence rates have been falling for type 2 diabetes, new treatments have improved outcomes for people living with diabetes and some risk factors for developing diabetes have improved. However, the continued large impact of diabetes on the health system makes it an important condition to target for continued monitoring and intervention.
• Progress on diabetes in Australia requires monitoring. This online report provides policy makers, health professionals, researchers and the broader community with a comprehensive summary of the latest available data describing diabetes in the Australian population.

The Diabetes: Australian facts report focuses on 4 main areas:

• diabetes risk factors
• diabetes prevalence (existing cases) and incidence (new cases)
• treatment and management
• impact, in terms of self-assessed health, burden of disease estimates, health expenditure and diabetes deaths.

Where possible, additional analysis by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, remoteness area, socioeconomic area and country of birth have been presented.