Australia: ‘Overweight’ Surpasses Smoking as Leading Risk Factor for Disease Burden

Canberra — The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released the 2024 Australian Burden of Disease Study, which revealed that being overweight has become the leading modifiable risk factor contributing to disease burden in Australia for the first time. Australians collectively lost 5.8 million years of healthy life in 2024 due to illness and premature death.

The study found that 36% of the total loss of healthy life, referred to as disease burden, could have been prevented or reduced through changes to modifiable risk factors. Overweight and obesity have now overtaken tobacco use as the top risk factor, with the disease burden from smoking decreasing by 41% since 2003 due to reduced smoking prevalence.

In 2024, overweight and obesity accounted for approximately 8.3% of Australia's total disease burden, followed by tobacco use at 7.6% and poor nutrition at 4.8%. A separate AIHW report from June 2024 revealed that 66% of Australian adults and 26% of children and adolescents were overweight or obese in 2022.

Meanwhile, Thursday’s (Dec. 12) study also reported that cancer remains the leading contributor to disease burden in 2024, accounting for 16.4% of total years of healthy life lost in Australia. Among young Australians, mental health issues, including suicide and self-harm, were identified as the primary contributors to disease burden.

Source:
www.xinhuathai.com