Almost 1 in 2 Australians Had One Chronic Health Issue During the Pandemic

Breathwork facilitates a slowing down of automatic patterns, like bad eating habits, so you can take back control. Yolya Ilyasova/Shutterstock

Almost half of Australians reported having at least one chronic health condition during the pandemic, the most common one being mental health or behavioural issues, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The latest figures offered insight into the health of Australians, including physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

The most common mental health or behavioural condition was anxiety (12.7 percent) and depression (10 percent).

“The National Health Survey offers insights into health conditions and health risks in 2020-21 during the COVID-19 pandemic,” ABS Director of Health Statistics Robert Long said. “Mental and behavioural conditions, back problems, and arthritis were the most commonly reported chronic conditions.”

In the top three most commonly reported chronic health conditions, women were more likely to be affected than men.

The proportion of people with anxiety and depression decreased by age, with over one-quarter of people between 15 and 34 years reporting the conditions.

Health Minister Greg Hunt recently announced mental health to be one of the four pillars of Australia’s long-term national health plan, with a focus on youth suicide, after the number of calls to mental health hotlines skyrocketed during lockdowns.

“The Morrison Government is committed to building safe and healthy communities, reducing the impacts and harms of drug and alcohol use for individuals, their families and their communities,” Hunt said.

Vaping On the Rise in Australia

The survey also provided insights on e-cigarette use for the first time and revealed that more than one-in-five young adults aged 18 to 24 have tried a vaping device.

It also revealed that people in this age group are most likely to have never smoked tobacco, as over 83 percent have never smoked a cigarette.

People aged 18 to 44 were also three times more likely than people over 45 to have used a vaping device at least once.

Managing stress is important to prevent burnout and reduce anxiety. Shutterstock

Paediatricians from the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network are urging people to “know the facts” that, despite the “safer alternative” messaging that vaping advertisements push, the activity comes with serious health dangers.

“As a respiratory paediatrician, I am really worried about the acute effects of vaping,” Professor Adam Jaffe said.

“My greatest concern is that people are unknowingly inhaling liquids which they think are completely safe and “cool,” when they could be destroying their lungs, not only short-term but also potentially causing lung injury problems and other health issues down the track.”

The majority of vaping devices contain poisons, such as those found in cleaning products and bug spray and Jaffe warned that the true ingredients often isn’t reflected on the packaging.

In the United States, an outbreak of EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping acute lung injury) emerged and many people who were admitted to intensive care did not recover.

ABS also found that for tobacco smokers, the number of cigarettes smoked a day increased with age. The heaviest smokers on average were people aged 65 to 74, at over half a pack of cigarettes a day.

Meanwhile, more than half of Australians over 15 years rated their health as being excellent or very good, with the most popular exercise of choice being walking.

However, only less than one-quarter of Australians aged 18 to 64 met the physical activity guidelines and for the elderly aged 65 and over, around 42 percent met the guidelines.

“Nearly half of employed people aged 18 to 64 years old described their day at work as mostly sitting,” Long said. “Men were four times more likely than women to report doing mostly heavy labour at work.”