Some of Sydney’s most exclusive suburbs have the biggest drinkers and mental health issues

The lifestyle choices of those living in some of Sydney’s most expensive suburbs is putting their health at risk warns health authorities, with the well-educated and those with high-pressured jobs seemingly the biggest offenders.

Business people toasting with white wine in restaurant. iStock image

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The latest health figures collected from some of the most well-heeled postcodes in Sydney reveal residents are high-risk drinkers who are more likely to need hospital treatment for mental health issues than other areas in NSW.

Shockingly, in terms of mortality rates the third biggest health issue across the Sydney North Health Network – which includes the northern beaches, North Sydney, Mosman, Lane Cove, Ku-ring-gai, Ryde, Willoughby, Hornsby and Hunters Hill – is self-harm.

A significant number come from suicide, although included in those figures are people who have died in accidents, such as road or work incidents.

Sydney North Health Network CEO Lynelle Hales. Picture: Troy Snook

The 2018-2019 health report released last week found that 17.9 per cent of those over the age of 15 engaged in high-risk drinking across the network, compared with 16.7 per cent across NSW.

However, across the district there are major differences, with Mosman the worst offender when it comes to high risk drinking with 25 per cent of those over 15 in that category, compared with just 12 per cent of those living in Ryde.

The report also revealed that there were 2222 per 100,000 mental health-related hospitalisations across the district, compared with 1,975 on average statewide.

Hunters Hill had the highest rate of mental health hospitalisations in the North Sydney region at 3520 per 100,000, with Mosman at 2538 per 100,000. Hornsby was the least likely area to see hospitalisations at 2000 per 100,000, but still above the NSW average.

Drinking and mental health issues are a concern in Northern Sydney. Picture: iStock.

Lynelle Hales, chief executive officer of SNHN said lifestyle factors were becoming a key issue in the region with things like excessive drinking linked to weight gain, less exercise and other issues such as mental health was “a major player”.

She urged problem drinkers to seek help from their GP.

“It seems the more well educated and those with stressful employment are factors that may lead to over indulging in escape mechanisms, such as alcohol,” she said.

“It’s time we looked at our lifestyle factors and made changes to protect our health.”

She added that while mental health and suicide was a major issue, the two biggest killers in the region are cancer (breast and lung) and heart disease.

“We have one of the highest breast cancer incidents in Australia,” she said.

The region faired better in many other areas, with residents less likely to be obese – 18.1 of per cent of over-18s are obese, compared with 28.2 per cent on average across NSW.

Just under 10 per cent of the population are smokers, compared with 16 per cent across NSW.

And, the population was also better educated and more likely to be employed, although 28.8 per cent of low income families experienced financial stress from mortgage or rent, just below the state average.

Ms Hales said there is much to be proud of in the report in that “we are a really active, healthy population’”.