Chronic conditions, risk factors and disability, City of Onkaparinga, 2006

Data released by the SA Department of Health for 2004 – 2006 indicates that the main chronic conditions for residents of Onkaparinga (18 years and over) are:

• Arthritis (18.6% of the sample group)
• Asthma (14.8%)
• Mental health conditions (14.7%)

The main risk factors are:

• Insufficient intake of vegetables (89.2%)
• Insufficient intake of fruit (60.2%)
• Insufficient physical activity (48.2%)

There were also high risks from:

• Overweight and obesity (54.8%)
• Short-term effects of alcohol (30.9%)

The full range of conditions and risk factors covered by the SAMSS (SA Monitoring & Surveillance System) survey are shown in the table below.

Chronic conditions and risk factors, Onkaparinga compared with Adelaide metropolitan area, 2006
The table above shows small differences between the rates of chronic conditions and risk factors in Onkaparinga, compared with the Adelaide metropolitan area. In Onkaparinga, in 2006, there were lower rates of Diabetes (-1%), Cardio Vascular Disease (-0.5%), Osteoporosis (-0.8%), Arthritis (-3%), Mental Health Condition (-0.2%), Underweight (-0.3%) High Blood Pressure (-2.2%), High Cholesterol (-1%), Insufficient intake of vegetables (-1.1%) and Insufficient physical activity (-0.7%).

In Onkaparinga, compared with the Adelaide metropolitan area, there were higher rates of Asthma (1.4%), Overweight (1.6%), Obesity (0.7%), Smoking (1.9%), High blood pressure (2.2%), Short and Long term risk from alcohol (1.9%), Insufficient intake of fruit (2.9%) and Insufficient money to buy food at times (1.9%).

Disability
The 2006 Census revealed that, in the City of Onkaparinga in 2006, there were 6,628 people who needed help with at least one of the core activities of daily living. This defines them as disabled, through suffering from a long-term health condition or old age. The City of Onkaparinga has a higher percentage of disabled people in the 0-19, 20-44 and 45-64 age groups compared to the Adelaide Statistical Division, while the percentage of disabled in the 65+ age group is considerably (9.6%) lower, as shown in the table below.

Disabled persons, Onkaparinga SLAs
The North Coast SLA had the highest percentage of disabled residents in 2006 (7.3%), followed by Morphett SLA (5.4%) and Hackham SLA 5.2%, as shown in the table and graph below: