Fed: Report examines growing levels of disability

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-2003
Fed: Report examines growing levels of disability

(Embargoed until 0100 AEDT, Friday, December 12)



CANBERRA, Dec 12 AAP - Older baby boomers, primary school children and the elderly
experienced the greatest rises in levels of disability, new figures showed today.

A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) singled out attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the post-World War II population spike and the
ageing population as the most significant contributors to the trend.

The report, Disability Prevalence and Trends, found that levels of disability remained
relatively stable at around four per cent of the population through the 1980s and early
1990s.

However the rate of disability among the population increased from 4.3 per cent to
5.5 per cent between 1993 and 1998.

The report said the increase could be partly due to changes in the way the disability
survey was conducted, with changed methods bringing more people with a disability into
the scope of the survey.

Among children, the report found between 1993 and 1998 the rate of disability among
boys aged five to 14 nearly doubled to 4.9 per cent.

"The high rates for children of school age may partly reflect the effect of the educational
system on the identification of disability," the report said.

The main contributor to increased disability levels was intellectual or learning conditions,
particularly ADHD.

"Both higher levels of diagnosis and heightened awareness among parents, educators
and health professionals may have contributed to the increase in reporting of ADHD," the
report said.

It also found higher levels of disability among the older working age population in
the 55 to 59-year age group in the late 1990s, attributing it to the bulge of the baby
boom generation and the inclusion of chronic pain in the 1998 survey.

The overarching issue of the ageing population also had an impact on disability levels
in the over 65 age group.

"Compared with the 1981 disability survey, the three later surveys reported substantially
higher rates of disability for the older population," the report said.

AAP so/cjh/de

KEYWORD: DISABILITY (EMBARGOED)

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