Life Expectancy - NSW Health · The gap in life expectancy at birth ... Life expectancy is estimated using current death rates by age. Life expectancy is calculated at two stages

Life Expectancy in MLHD, Epidemiology, Public Health, November 2017 - pg. 1

Life Expectancy Local Government Areas of Murrumbidgee LHD

Author: Kim Gilchrist email: [email protected]

2015

Summary

Life expectancy…

- for a person born in 2015 in MLHD is 79.5

years for males and 83.9 years for females,

this is slightly lower than NSW figures;

- has risen by 3 years for males and 2 years

for females since 2000;

- varies across the District with the highest

in Lockhart of 85.7 years to the lowest in

Narrandera of 81.2 years.

Populations of Lockhart and Coolamon are dying at

older ages than other LGAs in MLHD and also older

than NSW population in general.

On average across the LGAs women are expected

to live 4.4 years longer than men.

The gap in life expectancy at birth between the

highest ranked female population (Lockhart) and

the lowest ranked (Narrandera) is 5 years. The gap

between males of the same populations is 4.3

years.

The gap between the highest life expectancy for

females and the lowest in males is 9.2 years.


Source: Health Statistics NSW, November 2017

Life expectancy 2015 Males

Females

Persons

MLHD At birth 79.5 83.9 81.6

At 65 years 84.5 87.4 86.0

NSW At birth 80.9 85.0 82.9

At 65 years 85.0 87.6 86.3

Life expectancy

Life expectancy is estimated using current death

rates by age. Life expectancy is calculated at two

stages – the life span expected for someone born in

a particular year and the life expectancy for

someone aged 65 years in that year.

Life expectancy at birth is influenced by many

factors including socioeconomic status, genetic

factors, biomedical risk factors, the quality of the

health system, including preventive health, and the

ability of people to access health care.

Life expectancy at age 65 years is influenced by

lifestyle and nutritional and environmental factors,

as well as access to and the quality of contemporary

health services.

Life expectancy in NSW and MLHD continues to

increase. In 2015:

newborn males could expect to live for 80.9 years in

NSW and 79.5 years in MLHD, while newborn

females could expect to live for 85.0 years in NSW

and 83.9 years in MLHD.

at age 65 years males could expect to live until age

85.0 years in NSW and 84.5 years in MLHD and

females until 87.6 in NSW and 87.4 years in MLHD

although females can still expect to live longer than

males, the gap between the sexes is narrowing. In

NSW life expectancy increased by 10 years for

females since 1974, whereas there has been a 10

year increase for males since 1980.

At older ages women can still expect to live longer

than men of the same age, but the difference is

smaller than the difference in life expectancy at birth

between the sexes. This reflects the fact that males

are at greater risk than women of dying before they

reach advanced age, primarily from injury, suicide

and cardiovascular disease.



Life expectancy in LGA compared to NSW

Higher Lockhart Coolamon Murrumbidgee Griffith

Murray River Wagga Wagga

Lower Narrandera Lachlan Junee Hay

Leeton Hilltops Gundagai Temora

Edward River

Life expectancy by LGA

Life expectancy at birth in 2015 by LGA differs by

approximately four years from the highest in

Lockhart of 85.7 to the lowest in Narrandera of 81.2.

Lockhart and Coolamon in particular have

significantly higher life expectancy estimates than

all other LGAs in MLHD. As this is based on current

death rates it implies that the populations of

Lockhart and Coolamon are dying at older ages than

other LGAs in MLHD and also than NSW population

in general.


.


Life expectancy at birth by LGA

and sex

Life expectancy at birth for MLHD LGAs shows a

similar discrepancy between males and females as

in NSW. On average across the LGAs women are

expected to live 4.4 years longer than men.

Females with the lowest life expectancy estimate at

birth by LGA in general are likely to live longer than

males in the highest ranked LGAs with the one

exception of Narrandera females who have a similar

life expectancy of 83.0 years compared to Lockhart

males of 83.1 years.

The gap in life expectancy at birth between the

highest ranked female population (Lockhart) and

the lowest ranked (Narrandera) is 5 years. The gap

between males of the same populations is 4.3 years.

The gap between males and females in Lockhart is

4.9 years and in Narrandera is 4.2 years. The gap

between the highest life expectancy for females and

the lowest in males is 9.2 years.



Life expectancy at 65 years by

LGA and sex

Life expectancy at age 65 years for MLHD LGAs also

shows a similar discrepancy between males and

females as in NSW. On average across the LGAs

women are expected to live 3.5 years longer than

men. The gap between male and female life

expectancy at older ages is smaller than at birth as

men are more likely to die at younger ages than

women, but have more similar rates of death as

they age.

Women in Lockhart aged 65 years in 2015 can

expect to live to 90.5 years (i.e. a further 25.5 years)

and Coolamon 90.0 years, men in the same LGAs

should live to 86.4 years and 86.0 years respectively.

Females with the lowest life expectancy estimate by

LGA in general are likely to live longer than males in

the highest ranked LGAs with the one exception of

Narrandera females who have a similar life

expectancy of 86.3 years at 65 years compared to

Lockhart males of 86.4 years.



Life expectancy trend by LGA

All LGAs have experienced an increase in life

expectancy from 2005 to 2015. From birth the life

expectancy has increased on average 1.8 years and

at 65 years by 1.4 years.


Deaths from all causes by LGA


Death rates in the map are those which have been age-standardised taking into account the differing age

structures of LGAs across NSW. If the rates were not standardised LGAs with relatively older populations would

expect higher death rates.

MLHD LGAs generally have median ages above that of NSW (i.e. proportionally older populations). The

standardised death rates vary significantly across the LGAs. Berrigan, Narrandera and Junee all have significantly

high death rates, whereas Murrumbidgee, Coolamon and Lockhart have significantly low death rates compared

to NSW.

These high and low death rates correspond to the

longer and shorter life expectancy in the LGAs

except for Berrigan where the death rate is higher

than other LGAs but the life expectancy is in the

mid-range.

A population which is relatively older and a death

rate that is low might suggest a “well” elderly

population – i.e. we would expect a higher rate of

deaths than is actually occurring in this population

compared to NSW because it is older. Combine this

with fewer young people living in the area and you

have less chance that a death at a young age will

influence the death rate in small population areas.

Conversely if a population is relatively older

(Berrigan) but has more deaths occurring in younger

age groups than expected this could influence the

overall death rate and the life expectancy i.e. those

who survive past 75 years still live longer but more

die than expected at younger ages based on NSW

figures.

Junee death rates may be influenced by the

presence of the correctional facility, the median age

of the population is 40 and the proportion of

Aboriginal people is 7.8%. Aboriginal people in NSW

have a much shorter life expectancy (almost 10

years lower) than non-Aboriginal people.



Avoidable deaths by LGA

Avoidable deaths are those which occur before the

age of 75 years and are considered to be potentially

preventable (those amenable to screening and

primary prevention) and potentially treatable

(those amenable to therapeutic interventions).

They reflect the relative health of a population and

the access to appropriate health care.

Berrigan and Carrathool have the highest rates of

avoidable deaths in the MLHD although these are

not significantly higher than expected based on

NSW rates. Lower rates of avoidable deaths are

seen in Lockhart, Greater Hume, Snowy Valleys,

Coolamon, Gundagai and Hilltops. Low rates of

avoidable deaths add to a higher life expectancy in

the population.

Life Expectancy - NSW Health · The gap in life expectancy at birth ... Life expectancy is estimated using current death rates by age. Life expectancy is calculated at two stages

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