Nationwide monitoring and surveillance question development: Diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Australia, contributing significantly to premature mortality, morbidity, disability and potential years of life lost. From the 1995 National Health Survey (NHS), it was estimated that 430,700 individuals (2.4 per cent of the total population) reported having been diagnosed with diabetes at some stage in their life, and that a further 300,000 (1.5 per cent of the population) have undiagnosed diabetes. In 1996, the Australian Health Ministers declared diabetes as the fifth National Health Priority Area (NHPA), as several of the criteria for priority national attention were met.

This discussion paper examines a number of issues related to diabetes and the instruments that have been used to measure diabetes in the population. In particular, the paper looks at health surveillance data collection.