The government is urging Australians to get off the couch and exercise, with alarming new figures revealing half of us are overweight, battling diabetes or suffering another chronic disease.
Statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show 1-in-5 Aussies have at least two chronic diseases brought on by inactive lifestyles or smoking.
These include heart and lung disease, arthritis and back problems.
The government says while an ageing population explains part of the prole blem, bad lifestychoices are also to blame.
The AIWH report says chronic diseases affect a person’s quality of life and also the public purse.
The data – which is aimed at informing health policy – covers eight chronic diseases: arthritis, asthma, back problems, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and mental health conditions.
Ageing is a factor that has a strong association with comorbidity’ – when two or more diseases occur at the same time.
Arthritis and cardiovascular disease occurred together most frequently, in 16 per cent of the population, followed by arthritis and back problems (10 per cent) and back problems and cardiovascular disease (eight per cent).
‘Sometimes these diseases occur together simply by chance, but often it’s because there are some associations between them, such as shared risk factors,’ AIHW spokesperson Louise York said in a statement.
‘Older people are more vulnerable to developing many diseases, and Australians’ increasing life expectancy means a greater chance for multiple conditions to arise.’
Among those aged 0-44, mental health conditions and back problems were the most common, followed by mental health and asthma, and back problems and asthma.