Half of Qld's death avoidable: study
Half of all deaths annually in Queensland are potentially avoidable, a study into Queenslanders' health has found.
A report released on Sunday, titled The Health of Queenslanders 2006, showed too many Queenslanders were still smoking, drinking alcohol excessively, eating poorly and not exercising enough, Health Minister Stephen Robertson said.
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And while life expectancies of women and men had increased to almost 83 and 78 years respectively, Queensland's future health was under threat unless people ate better, lost weight and exercised more, Mr Robertson said.
"There's a tsunami of chronic disease on the horizon," Mr Robertson warned.
"Unless Queenslanders make informed choices about their lifestyles now, a lot more of us will face hospitalisation and premature death as a result of chronic disease such as heart, respiratory and kidney disease, stroke and diabetes."
Among the most alarming facts outlined in the report was that 50 per cent of all deaths were potentially avoidable.
The report also showed less than half the adult population exercised sufficiently to achieve a health benefit, with levels of inactivity higher than national levels.
Queensland also had the third highest proportion of daily smokers of all states and territories with 22 per cent of males, 18 per cent of females and 12 per cent of teenagers smoking daily.
The study also showed about 12 per cent of males and 10 per cent of females drank potentially harmful amounts of alcohol.
The Queensland vegetable consumption was still below recommended rates, while diabetes increased by about 50 new cases daily.
Queensland also continued to have the highest rate of melanoma in the world - but more than half the population thought tanning was attractive, the report showed.
Rates of sexually transmittable infections including Chlamydia and gonorrhoea had increased, according to the report.
In 2003, anxiety and depression affected 349,000 people while about 260,000 people lived with asthma and about 15,000 new cases were being diagnosed each year.
The report also cast a negative shadow over the health of indigenous women and men, with their life expectancy rates about 23 and 25 years younger respectively than the rest of the population.
They also suffered higher death rates for heart disease, diabetes, pneumonia and injury.
Queensland Health's Chief Health Officer, Jeannette Young, said the report proved the need for prevention.
"Preventable deaths and illnesses are already putting an enormous an unnecessary burden on our hospital system," she said
