Notes on the data: Avoidable deaths by sex and cause

Avoidable deaths by sex and cause, 2018 to 2022

Policy context: In 2010, the National Healthcare Agreement (NHA) included a performance indicator called Potentially Avoidable Deaths (PI-20). The specification for this indicator was endorsed by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council in 2009 based on advice from the National Health Information Standards and Statistics Committee (NHISSC).

On 4 December 2013, NHISSC agreed to the re-establishment of the Potentially Preventable Hospitalisations/Potentially Avoidable Deaths (PPH/PAD) Working Group to finalise specification of this performance indicator for the 2015 NHA report. Throughout 2014, work was done by the PPH/PAD Working Group, with further revisions by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), with additional NHISSC comments from several states. It also included an examination of the international work in avoidable mortality. This list is updated annually for any cause of death code changes: the latest list is shown below.

Deaths determined to be avoidable are limited to those before 75 years of age, other than for Acute lymphoid leukaemia/Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, where the limit is 0 to 44 years.

In 2018 to 2022, there were 8,397 deaths from potentially avoidable causes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders; this is over half the number of premature deaths.

Notes:

Deaths data

For deaths data released since 2007, the ABS has applied a staged approach to the coding of cause of death which affects the number of records available for release at any date. In general, the latest year’s data is preliminary, the second latest is revised and the data for the remaining years is final. For further information about the ABS revisions process see the following and related sites http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3303.0Explanatory+Notes12012 .

However, data published here are from the following releases: 2018, 2019 and 2020 final; and 2021 and 2022 preliminary.

Indicator detail

Deaths are defined as avoidable in the context of the present health system, based on the NHA PI-16 Potentially avoidable deaths, 2022.

Not all of the causes of avoidable mortality are shown in this atlas as some have too few cases to be reliable indicators at the small area level.

Note: Some of the selected avoidable mortality indicators comprise the same condition(s)/ ICD codes as the selected premature mortality indicators presented in the data/ maps.

Data quality

Almost all deaths in Australia are registered. However, Indigenous status is not always recorded, or recorded correctly. The incompleteness of Indigenous identification (referred to as completeness of coverage) means that the number of deaths registered as Indigenous is an underestimate of the actual number of deaths which occur in the Indigenous population. It should also be noted that completeness of coverage is likely to vary between geographical areas.

While there is incomplete coverage of Indigenous deaths in all state and territory registration systems, some jurisdictions have been assessed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as having a sufficient level of coverage to enable statistics on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality to be produced. Those jurisdictions are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Potentially avoidable mortality (0-74 years)

ICD-10 codes/ specifications in scope are as specified below

Cause of death group	ICD-10 codes	Limits (age, sex)
Infections
Selected invasive infections	A38-A41 A46, A48.1, G00, G03, J02.0, J13-J16, J18, L03
Viral pneumonia and influenza	J10-J12
HIV/AIDS	B20-B24
Cancer
Colorectal	C18-C21, C26.0
Skin	C43, C44
Breast	C50	Female
Cervix	C53
Prostate	C61
Kidney	C64
Thyroid	C73
Hodgkin's disease	C81
Acute lymphoid leukaemia/Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia	C91.0	0-44 years
Diabetes	E10-E14
Diseases of the circulatory system
Rheumatic and other valvular heart disease	I00-I09, I33-I37
Hypertensive heart and renal disease	I10-I13
Ischaemic heart disease	I20-I25
Cerebrovascular diseases	I60-I69
Heart failure	I50, I51.1, I51.2, I51.4, I51.5
Pulmonary embolism	I26
Diseases of the genitourinary system
Renal failure	N17-N19
Diseases of the respiratory system
COPD	J40-J44
Asthma	J45, J46
Diseases of the digestive system
Peptic ulcer disease	K25-K27
Maternal & infant causes
Complications of perinatal period	P00-P96
Other conditions
Complications of pregnancy, labour or the puerperium	O00-O99
Selected external causes of morbidity and mortality
Falls	W00-W19
Fires, burns	X00-X09
Suicide and self-inflicted injuries	X60-X84, Y87.0
Misadventures to patients during surgical and medical care	Y60-Y69
Medical devices associated with adverse incidents in diagnostic and therapeutic use	Y70-Y82
Surgical and other medical procedures as the cause of abnormal reaction of the patient, or of later complication, without mention of misadventure at the time of the procedure	Y83-Y84
Other external causes of morbidity and mortality
Transport accidents	V01-V99
Exposure to inanimate mechanical forces	W20-W49
Exposure to animate mechanical forces	W50-64
Accidental drowning and submersion	W65-W74
Other accidental threats to breathing	W75-W84
Exposure to electric current, radiation and extreme ambient air temperature and pressure	W85-W99
Contact with heat and hot substances	X10-X19
Contact with venomous animals and plants	X20-X29
Exposure to forces of nature	X30-X39
Accidental poisoning by and exposure to noxious substances	X40-X49
Overexertion, travel and privation	X50-X57
Accidental exposure to other and unspecified factors	X58-X59
Assault	X85-Y09
Event of undetermined intent	Y10-Y34
Legal interventions and operations of war	Y35-Y36
Drugs, medicaments and biological substances causing adverse effects in therapeutic use	Y40-Y59
Sequelae of external causes of morbidity and mortality	Y85, Y86, Y87.1-Y89

Source: National Healthcare Agreement: PI 16–Potentially avoidable deaths, 2022. Available from: https://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/740864. Last accessed 9 September 2024

Geography: Data available by Indigenous Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic outcomes (based on IRSEO) and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Avoidable deaths for the above categories, Aboriginal population aged 0 to 74 years

Denominator: Aboriginal population aged 0 to 74 years

Detail of analysis: Average annual indirectly age-standardised rate per 100,000 Aboriginal population (aged 0 to 74 years); and/or indirectly age-standardised ratio, based on the Australian standard

Source: Data compiled by PHIDU from deaths data based on the 2018 to 2022 Cause of Death Unit Record Files supplied by the Australian Coordinating Registry and the Victorian Department of Justice, on behalf of the Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the National Coronial Information System. ABS estimated resident population (produced as a consultancy for PHIDU), 30 June 2021.