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Calcium Dashboard – Details by Country

Australia


Country Typology: Low disease risk, high intervention/policy environment

Health Data

Preterm Births:

  • Lancet Estimates: Preterm Birth Rate per 100 Live Births: 8.2 [7.9-8.5] 1
  • GBD Estimates: DALYS per 100,000 [CI]: 191 [156, 232] 2

Maternal Hypertensive Disorders - Preclampsia & Eclampsia Incidence: 3

  • % of Preeclampsia Cases: 2.52%
  • % of Eclampsia Cases: NR
  • % of Combined Preeclampsia and Eclampsia: NR

Maternal Hypertensive Disorders - DALYS & Deaths: 4

  • DALYs per 100,000: 2.70 [1.59, 4.33]
  • Deaths per 100,000: 0.01 [0.01, 0.01]

Bone Fractures Incidence Rate per 100,000 [CI]: 5641.7 [5023.2, 6376] 5

Diet and Food Supply

Calcium Intake: 789.9mg/day (298.8) 6

Apparent Calcium Intake: 1204.4 mg/day 7

Policies

Calcium Fortification:
No fortification policy

Antenatal Care Guidelines: 8

  • Supplementation Recommendation:
    Target: Women at risk of pre-eclampsia if dietary intake is low
  • Food-Based Recommendation:
    • Milk and milk products (yogurt, cheese)
    • Leafy green vegetables (e.g., kale, bok choy)
    • Fortified plant-based milks (soy or almond)
    • Sardines or salmon with bones
    • Tofu set with calcium
    • Sesame seeds, almonds, or chia seeds

References:

1 Preterm Births - Lancet Estimates
Ohuma EO, Moller A-B, Bradley E, et al. National, regional, and global. estimates of preterm birth in 2020, with trends from 2010: a systematic analysis. Lancet 2023; 402: 1261–71.

2 Preterm Births - GBD Estimates
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). GBD Compare Data Visualization. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, 2023. Available from http://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare. (Accessed 7/23/2025). For terms and conditions of use, please visit http://www.healthdata.org/about/terms-and-conditions

3 Maternal Hypertensive Disorders - Preclampsia & Eclampsia Incidence
Wertaschnigg D, Selvaratnam R, Rolnik D, et al. (2022) Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy - Trends over eight years: A population-based cohort study. Pregnancy Hypertens. 2022;28:60-65.

4 Maternal Hypertensive Disorders - DALYS & Deaths
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). GBD Compare Data Visualization. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, 2023. Available from http://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare. (Accessed 9/16/2024).

5 Bone Fractures
Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network. Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 (GBD 2021). Seattle, United States: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), 2022. Available from https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results/. (Accessed 7/18/2025).

6 Calcium Intake
Pannu PK, Scherini AJJ, Silva DT, Whalan S. The ORIGINS Project: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Nutrition Profile of Pregnant Women in a Longitudinal Birth Cohort. Nutrients. 2024 Aug 5;16(15):2571.

7 Apparent Calcium Intake
Updated for 2022 based on: Lividini, K., Masters, W.A. Tracing global flows of bioactive compounds from farm to fork in nutrient balance sheets can help guide intervention towards healthier food supplies. Nat Food 3, 703–715 (2022).

8 Antenatal Care Guidelines
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Australian Pregnancy Care Guidelines. Published online 2024. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://app.magicapp.org/?language=en#/guideline/jm83RE