Notes on the data: Premature mortality by selected cause - 0 to 74 years

Deaths from respiratory system diseases, persons aged 0 to 74 years, 2018 to 2022

Policy context: Respiratory system diseases are those that affect the respiratory tract (upper airway, trachea, bronchus and lung). They include cancers of the respiratory system, chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, influenza and other respiratory diseases. Some may persist over many years and, if severe, may require a wide range of treatments and medications from specialised health practitioners. Some diseases result from exposures to environmental pollutants such as tobacco smoke or asbestos, or toxic emissions from industry or transport. Others are the result of genetic conditions which affect people from birth, such as cystic fibrosis. Many of these diseases can cause those affected to die prematurely.

Self-reported data in 2022 estimated that 34% of Australians have chronic respiratory conditions, including 11% with asthma and 2.5% living with COPD [1]. In 2022, chronic lower respiratory disease was the third leading cause of death overall for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in NSW, QLD, WA, SA and the NT [2].

For 2018 to 2022, a quarter (25.3%) of deaths from respiratory system diseases were premature, with a slightly higher proportion for males (27.4%) than females (23.1%) – these and other details are available here.

References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Chronic respiratory conditions. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-respiratory-conditions/chronic-respiratory-conditions/contents/summary. Last accessed: 3 September 2024.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023). Causes of death, Australia 2022. Available from: : https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/causes-death-australia/2022. Last accessed: 3 September 2024.

Notes: International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes: J00-J99

For detailed data files released since 2007, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (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 are designated preliminary, the second latest as revised and the data for the remaining years as 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.

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

Geography: Data available by Population Health Area, Local Government Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area and Quintiles within PHNs, and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Deaths from respiratory system diseases at ages 0 to 74 years

Denominator: Population aged 0 to 74 years

Detail of analysis: Average annual indirectly age-standardised rate per 100,000 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. The population is the average of the ABS Estimated Resident Population (ERP) for Australia, 30 June 2018 to 30 June 2022.