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

Deaths from respiratory system diseases, persons aged 0 to 74 years, 2017 to 2021

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.

People who are most likely to die prematurely from these causes include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (four times the rate of non-Indigenous people), those living outside of the Major Cities remoteness areas, and those in areas of lower socioeconomic status [1].

For 2017 to 2021, almost quarter (24.8%) of deaths from respiratory system diseases were premature – these and other details are available here.

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: 2017, final; 2018, revised; and 2019, 2020 and 2021, 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 2017 to 2021 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 2017 to 30 June 2021.