Chronic diseases have a substantial impact on individuals and the Australian health system. They lead to increased hospital admissions, long-term disability, reduced quality of life and death. Chronic diseases cause eight out of ten premature deaths and account for 80% of years of life lost due to ill health, disability or early death.
There is limited reliable information on chronic disease prevalence in the Northern Territory (NT) population, because data sources are incomplete and disparate. In this fact sheet, we have linked data sources to provide estimates of the prevalence of important chronic diseases including ischaemic heart disease (IHD), diabetes, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), hypertension, rheumatic heart disease (RHD), asthma and chronic liver disease (CLD) for the NT adult population (18 years and older).