Social Determinants of Health

AIHW Emergency department care (ref 1):

In 2024-2025 there were about 92,000 presentations to the Emergency Department of public hospitals with asthma. (ref 1)*

Specifically 91,480 presentations with asthma were recorded across complexity level A, B and C, of which:
– about 46,000 (50%) were admitted (including admission in the emergency department, admission to another hospital ward, including a short stay unit, or admission to hospital-in-the-home)
– about 45,000 (50%) were not admitted
– 1.5% were triaged as resuscitations
– 39% were triaged as emergencies
– 47% were triaged as urgent
– 12% were triaged as semi-urgent
– <1% were triaged as non-urgent

*ED presentations included all types of visits, including Emergency presentation but also Return planned visit (e.g for Follow-up treatment, test results etc), pre-arranged admission and dead on arrival (without resuscitation attempt) (see https://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/684942)

Note: This data differs from AIHW asthma webpage which lists ED due to asthma (asthma as the principal diagnosis)

Note: the number of admissions here is different from the hospitalisation number provided through the AIHW “Admitted Patient Care”. Admitted patient care provides a count of hospitalisations with asthma as principal diagnosis (i.e. main reason for hospitalisation)

AIHW Asthma webpage (ref 2):

In 2024-25, there were:

• 60,300 ED presentations with asthma as the principal diagnosis
• ED rate was about 220 presentation per 100,000 population, slightly higher in females than males (245 vs 220 per 100,000)
• Age standardised ED rate in 2024-25 was 234 per 100,000, about the same level as in 2020-21 during the COVID pandemic, and the lowest since 2020-21 (highest was in 2022-23 at 272 per 100,000) – see figures below
• boys aged 0-14 had an ED rate 1.5 times as high as that of girls the same age (boys were 1.5 times as likely to visit an ED for asthma)
• ED rates (age standardised) are higher for people living in Remote and Very remote areas compared to people living in Major cities (535 and 140 per 100,000 population, respectively), and for people living in areas of most disadvantage compared to people living in areas of least disadvantage (320 and 64 per 100,000 population, respectively).
• First Nations: 6,200 ED presentations with asthma as principal diagnosis among First Nations people, a rate of 590 per 100,000 population (720 vs 460 per 100,000 in females vs males), which after adjusting for age, is 2.7 times higher than for other Australians

Fig 3 from AIHW: ED rates with asthma as principal diagnosis, by age and sex (ref 2)

ED rate (age standardised) trends from 2018-19 to 2024-25 (ref 2):

Disadvantaged areas:
Report by the Jesuit Social Services, that measures as 37 indicators of disadvantage across every community in each state and territory. Dropping off the Edge 2021 shows that disadvantage is concentrated in a small and disproportionate number of communities in each
state and territory.
The report provides data for each state including maps of disadvantaged areas.