Australian Health Performance Framework: PI 3.4.3–Major causes of death, 2019

Collection and usage attributes

Data is disaggregated by each International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) chapter for underlying cause of death:

• Certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00–B99)
• Neoplasms (cancer) (C00–D48)
• Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism (D50–D89)
• Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00–E90)
• Mental and behavioural disorders (F00–F99)
• Nervous system diseases (G00–G99)
• Diseases of the eye and adnexa (H00–H59)
• Diseases of the ear and mastoid process (H60–H95)
• Circulatory diseases (I00–I99)
• Respiratory diseases (J00–J99)
• Digestive diseases (K00–K93)
• Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00–L99)
• Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (M00–M99)
• Diseases of the genitourinary system (N00–N99)
• Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00–O99)
• Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (P00–P96)
• Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00–Q99)
• Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00–R99)
• External causes of morbidity and mortality (V01–Y98)
• All causes

(Numerator ÷ Denominator) x 100,000

Rates are directly age-standardised to the 2001 Australian population. Presented per 100,000 population.

Number of deaths

Total Australian population

2008 to 2017—Nationally, by underlying cause of death and sex.

2017—State and territory, by underlying cause of death and sex.

2017—Primary Health Network (PHN) by underlying cause of death and sex

2013–2017—Nationally, by Indigenous status, underlying cause of death and sex.

Some disaggregation may result in numbers too small for publication.

Disaggregation by Indigenous status will be based on data only from jurisdictions for which the quality of Indigenous identification is considered acceptable—New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory.

Due to the small number of Indigenous deaths reported each year, 5-year combined data will be reported for Indigenous status disaggregations.

Most recent data available for 2019 Australian Health Performance Framework reporting:

• 2017
• Aggregated data 2013–2017 (Indigenous status)

Deaths registered in 2015 and earlier are based on the final version of cause of death data; deaths registered in 2016 are based on the revised version; and deaths registered in 2017 are based on the preliminary version. Revised and preliminary versions are subject to further revision by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

A number of updates to the ICD-10 were applied to the 2013 causes of death data. Details of the impact of these changes on the mortality data are described in ABS Implementation of the Iris Software: Understanding Coding and Process Improvements.

2012 data are coded using ICD-10 (2006 version). 2013 data are coded using ICD-10 (2013 version). 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 data are coded using ICD-10 (2015 version).

Single year data will be reported for time series analysis.

Denominators used in the calculation of rates for the Indigenous population are ABS estimates (Series B, 2016 Census-based). Non-Indigenous estimates are only available for Census years; in the intervening years the population is calculated by subtracting the estimated Indigenous population from the total population Estimated Resident Population (ERP).

Indigenous and non-Indigenous analysis excludes records where Indigenous status was 'not stated'.

Due to the small number of Indigenous deaths reported each year, 5-year combined data will be reported for the current reporting period. For rate calculations, the average of the numerator is divided by the mid-point Indigenous population for the time period.

Data by remoteness and Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD) may be available, pending assessment of data quality.

Representational attributes

N[NN].N

Indicator conceptual framework

Data source attributes

Accountability attributes

Australian Health Performance Framework

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Source and reference attributes

Relational attributes