TRANSCRIPT
Australian women are living longer, but with that comes varying health outcomes complicated by lower wages, mental health issues and domestic violence.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a summary on the health of women in Australia, mapping out how women's health changes over their lifetimes.
Amy Young is a head of the population health group at the Australian Institute of health and welfare.
"The AIHW's new report brings together data and insights on women's health in Australia making it easier for researchers policymakers health professionals and the community to access reliable information in one place."
Key findings in the report include data showing that a baby girl born in Australia in 2024 can expect to live 85.5 years on average, with more than three-quarters of this in full health with no disease or injury.
This is more than two years longer than men, who have an average life expectancy of just over 83 years.
Between 2000 and 2024, cancer diagnoses among women increased by 10 per cent, yet death rates from the disease decreased by almost 20 per cent.
Deaths due to breast cancer have reduced by nearly 30 per cent in the same period.
Amy Young says while that's good news - increased life expectancy is also resulting in a jump in dementia rates.
Dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, is now the leading cause of death for women, responsible for almost twice as many deaths than among males in 2023.
"We have observed a decline in cancer mortality especially for breast cancer. However we see that dementia is a leading cause of death for women still responsible for almost twice as many deaths as men. There are also a range of risk factors for dementia that we are aware of now that can be targeted to prevent and delay dementia. These include high cholesterol, untreated hearing loss and vision loss, physical inactivity, social isolation smoking and excess alcohol consumption."
Lower cancer rates have been put down to increased uptake of screening, with participation rates in BreastScreen and the bowel cancer screening programs highest among women living in inner and outer regional areas.
But screening rates are lower among First Nations women and those who speak a language other than English.
Dr Adele Murdulo is the CEO of the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health.
"Thinking about how migrant women are placed in that we do know that migrant women are under screened so that they're not screened at the same rates as the general population. So whether that data actually applies to them it's great to see that overall improvement. But we do need to see some improved screening rates so that we can have a bit more equity in that improvement."
The report shows that in 2023 - 79 per cent of women accessed antenatal care in the first trimester of their pregnancy and 95 per cent had five or more antenatal care visits
The level of health care and support before and during a pregnancy can have protective or detrimental effects for women's experience of labour and birth, as well as outcomes for their babies and for themselves.
Dr Murdolo again.
"I think another data point that was really nice to see was that antenatal care continues to increase across the population. It's so important that pregnant people have access to antenatal care at an early point so it's 79 per cent of pregnant people access antenatal caring the first trimester. But we do know that that figure even though it has been growing overtime across Australia, is always consistently lower for migrant and refugee women so again great to see a growth, but would be even better to see some equity there across the population."
Women often have more complex health needs than men that can require longer GP consultations.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says a General Practice Health of the Nation report published in 2024 shows women are also more likely to delay visiting their doctor.
The College's Vice President Dr Ramya Raman says women are more likely to put off seeing their GP.
That's often because they tend to prioritise the health of their family and other family members over themselves.
"At the end of the day when women are healthy and they look after their physical health as well as their psychological health it means that their families are really well as well. So women are more likely than men to delay or skip care. Nearly one in three women tend to put off seeing their GP And they tend to sort of delay for various reasons in terms of time commitments priorities and cost but the key is this isn't really self-care. It's actually missed prevention."
How can women take care of their health in a more efficient manner?
Dr Raman says preventative appointments save more time and money in the long run.
"The best thing to do is to actually book in with your GP when you're well and I think this may this is something that's been talked to me when I was in training as a GP. We go why would you wanna go see the doctor when you're well and the reason is there are multiple things that can be attended to when the patient is well. For example looking into family history to see if there are certain family conditions that are you know sort of in the family genetic predisposition all the way from heart disease to cancer and looking to see how we can prevent those so specific screening can be done."
But more Australians are delaying seeing their GP due to the cost.
The RACGP says at the moment, Medicare rewards clinicians who provide shorter consultations - which can delay the treatment of women's health issues which can take longer diagnose.
And while you're there, Dr Raman suggest getting screens, advice and other checkups that can keep conditions from getting worse for as long as possible.
"Other preventative health items like for example women often going, oh you know I'd really like to sort of quit smoking or maybe I need to reduce my alcohol intake. I need to talk about the stress that I'm enduring with family and work and trying to find a balance and trying to fit in the exercise. All of those factors can be can be embedded within the consultation with the patient as well. And of course in addition to that we talk about preventative healthcare all the way from cervical screening, reminding women to get the mammograms the fecal occult blood test screening for bowel cancer screening and they immunisations as well. so the key is make an appointment when you're well and make it a priority to get that done at least once a year that's what I tell my patients."
The AIHW report also cites mental health conditions in younger women as causing the most burden with anxiety and depression the most commonly co-occurring conditions among women in all age groups, except 65 and over.
The AIHW summary found 25 per cent of women aged 16 to 85 had experienced a mental illness in the past 12 months.
Almost 45 per cent had experienced a mental illness at some point in their lifetime.
Violence against women also has health ramifications.
The Institute's Amy Young:
"I wouldn't say I was surprised by it, but I think some of the stand out findings for me are violence against women remains a key risk factor for women. So more than one in four women and that's around 2.7 million Australians have experienced family and domestic violence since the age of 15. We also say that according to the ABS as patient experience survey, women are more likely than men to report feeling that there was sometimes rarely or never listened to carefully or shown respect by a GP or a medical specialist."
There have been some positive improvements in funding women's health care.
Dr Raman again.
"The recent progress includes the the women's health package that the federal government has announced which is really welcome. More support for menopause health assessments, contraceptive advice but that's a really great start and we are wanting to ensure that the implementation reaches the patience in every community in Australia. Our focus is still on trying to focus on increasing patient Medicare rebates particularly for complex consults, ensuring that women are getting these as well making it much more affordable, which will ultimately help to reduce hospitalisations and severity of chronic conditions presenting to hospitals."
