31 January 2019

A new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare examined the link between socioeconomic status and disease: “Overall, researchers said the findings showed social disadvantage was linked to poorer outcomes, including higher rates of disease and a greater likelihood of dying. In fact, if all Australians had the same chance of dying from the three diseases as those in the highest socioeconomic group, the report said there would be 8,600 fewer deaths each year from cardiovascular disease, 6,900 fewer deaths from diabetes, and 4,800 fewer deaths from chronic kidney disease.” That’s about 1 in every 1200 people in Australia.