CANBERRA, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- More than two million Australians are living with long-term neurological conditions, with migraine the most common, according to a government report released on Friday.
The report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that around 2.2 million Australians were living with a long-term neurological condition in 2022, representing 8.7 percent of the national population.
Migraine accounted for 1.7 million of the 2.2 million cases and disproportionately affected people of working age and females.
About 11 percent of females and 6.1 percent of males had a long-term neurological condition in 2022.
The AIHW said that the difference was largely due to migraine, which affected 9.2 percent of all Australian females compared to 4.1 percent of males in 2022.
The AIHW said that there were almost 365,000 hospitalizations and over 132,000 emergency department presentations across Australia due to neurological conditions in 2023-24.
It is estimated that neurological conditions accounted for 6.6 billion Australian dollars (4.3 billion U.S. dollars) in health spending in 2023-24, representing 3.6 percent of all disease-related costs, with dementia the most costly condition, followed by epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
The report marked the first from the AIHW on the prevalence, disease burden and health expenditure of neurological conditions.
Richard Hurley from the AIHW described the report as an important step in improving the outcomes of Australians living with neurological conditions. ■
