Health

At Young Maggie's we focus on supporting those living with and

caring for those diagnosed with acute, chronic, life threatening

and life limiting illnesses.

A few interesting facts...

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) commonly reports on 10 major chronic condition groups in adults: arthritis, asthma, back pain, cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, mental health conditions and osteoporosis. Between 2020-2021, 1 in 2 Australians (47%) had one or more of the 10 selected chronic conditions.

It is estimated that between 2018 and 2019 approximately 28,800 Australian children and adolescents accessed palliative care (Paediatric Palliative Care National Action Plan).

Over 185,000 Australian young people (0-19) have life-limiting illnesses, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and congenital conditions (AIHW, 2011).

4 weeks following a child's diagnosis of a life threatening illness (Muscara et al, 2015):

49-54% of parents meet DSM-V criteria for acute stress disorder, across a number of illness groups
15-27% of parents are in the moderate/severe range for anxiety and depression
25-31% of parents are in the moderate/severe range for stress

Parents of children with chronic heart disease are at an elevated risk for psychological problems, particularly in the immediate weeks and months following cardiac surgery. Up to 30% of parents have symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, with over 80% presenting with clinically signiﬁcant symptoms of trauma; 25-50% reporting clinically elevated symptoms of depression and/or anxiety, and 30-80% reported experiencing severe psychological distress (Woolf-King et al, 2017).

Around 1 in every 2,800 babies are born with a condition that causes childhood dementia. This is more than children born with well-known conditions like cystic fibrosis. It also results in around 90 deaths per year in Australia, this is a similar number to deaths from childhood cancer (aged 0-14 years).

It is estimated between 2%-8% of all children, young people, and young adults in advanced industrialised capitalist societies are in caring roles, which means there could be between 160,000 and 640,000 Australian children, young people and young adults caring for someone with a physical illness, mental health problem or substance use addiction.