State specific resources

Descriptive analysis of PBS dispensing data between 1 January 2019 and 30 November 2023, based on UK estimates of emissions per inhaler.

Findings:

• 14.4 million PBS-subsidised inhalers dispensed in 2019, increasing to 15.5 million in 2023, primarily caused by an increas in high-emission inhalers (8.2 million to 9.2 million)
• estimated emissions increased from 217 510 t to 246 934 t CO₂e
• 56.9% of dispensed inhalers were high emission in 2019 vs 59.5% in 2023
• each year, high-emission inhalers accounted for about 98% of total PBS-subsidised inhaler-related emissions
• emissions were the greatest for SABA inhalers (98% in high emissions inhalers, 57% of all inhaler-related emissions) and combined ICS/LABA (49% in high-emission inhalers, 34% of all inhaler-related emissions)

PBS-subsidised inhaler dispensing rates were:

• higher in non-metropolitan than metropolitan areas(but emissions were higher in metropolitan areas due to a larger number of inhalers dispensed).
• higest in Tasmania (693 per 1000 population in 2023) then South Australia (632 per 1000) and lowest in the Northern Territory (355 per 1000 population) and Western Australia (383 per 1000 population)
• higher for females than males (proportion of high emission inhalers also higher for females)

The proportions of high emissions inhalers dispensed were largest in South Australia (63–65%) and the Northern Territory (59–64%) and smallest in the Australian Capital Territory (53–57%) and Western Australia (52–56%).

The age group dispensed the largest proportion of PBS‐subsidised inhalers were people aged 60–79 years (43–45% of all PBS‐subsidised inhalers dispensed; high emissions inhalers, 50–54%).

Note: study was limited by the omission of over the counter sales (for SABA) and some missing data.

In 2023-2024, the expenditure for asthma was an estimated $1.28 billion spent on the treatment and management of asthma (out of $180.4 billion total spending on disease and injury and $98 billion spent on chronic conditions, and $5.77 billion spent on respiratory disease in 2023-2024), making asthma the third most costly respiratory condition (after COPD and upper respiratory conditions).(ref 1)

This is an increase from $1,192 million in 2022-23 and $852 million in 2020-21 (ref 2, 3)

The 1.3 billion spent on asthma represents:(ref 4)

• 0.7% of health system expenditure allocated by disease
• 22% of all respiratory condition expenditure

Asthma expenditure repartition: (ref 4)

• about 20% of asthma expenditure was spent on children under 15 years
• 58% was spent on females , 42% on males, and 0.3% was unattributed to any sex
• spending per case was higher for females vs males ($440 vs $390 per case)
• almost half (43%) of asthma spending was attributed to the PBS ($180 per case), followed by general practitioner services, 16% of asthma spending ($68 per case)

Asthma expenditure in 2023-24 included (ref1):

• $549 million spent on pharmaceuticals
• $210 million spent on GP
• $166 million spent on public hospital admissions
• $146 million spent on public hospital EDs
• $104 million spent on public hospital outpatient services

Asthma spending breakdown (Fig 5, ref 4):

Asthma expenditure was spent as follows: (ref 4)

• 61% ($780.8 million) on Primary healthcare, which is about 2.2 times the primary healthcare proportion average spent for all disease groups: this included 43% spent on PBS benefits, which is 3.6 times higher than the proportion of PBS spending for all diseases groups (12%)
• 33% for Hospital services (1.9 times lower that the 63% hospital proportion average for all disease groups), however the ED proportion was especially large for asthma (11%), 2.2 times higher than the average for all disease groups (5%)
• referred medical services (5.8%) was lower than the average proportion for all disease group (9.0%)

Trends over time (ref 4):

• asthma expenditure has increased from $0.7 billion to $1.3 billion between 2013-14 and 2023-24 (in current prices – unadjusted for inflation)
• after adjusting for inflation, real expenditure on asthma grew $261 million (constant prices) between 2013-14 and 2023-24
• after adjusting for inflation, average health spending on asthma per case remained stable between 2015–16 ($415) and 2023–24 ($420)

Burden of disease summary (Fig 8, ref 1):

Spending on asthma by jurisdictions (ref 1):

• ACT: $25.04 million
• NSW: $402.83 million
• NT: $12.78 million
• QLD: $254.19 million
• SA: $94.56 million
• TAS: $31.84 million
• VIC: $335.08 million
• WA: $126.12 million

In 2024, there were 478 deaths with asthma as underlying cause in Australia, including 322 females and 156 males (see table below) (ref 1):
* Asthma deaths were nearly identical to the previous year (480 deaths in 2023; 329 females and 151 males)*** (ref 1), with a return to pre-pandemic level after seeing a reduction in 2021 due to pandemic measures resulting in fewer respiratory infections (ref 1, 2)
* However, over the last 35 years, asthma deaths have halved, from 964 deaths in 1989 (ref 2)

Deaths increased by 28% in males aged 75+ since 2023 (18% of all deaths) (ref 3)

Deaths increased by 16% for females aged 75+ (50% of all deaths) (ref 3)

*** Note that ABS numbers were updated in this release for previous years with 480 deaths in 2023 and 474 deaths in 2022, compared to 474 deaths in 2023 according to previous ABS release and Asthma Australia infographic.

The age-standardised death rate in 2024 was 1.3 deaths per 100,000 people (1.5 for females and 0.9 for males) which remains similar to before the pandemic. (ref 1)

There were 3,864 years of potential life lost due to asthma in 2024 (1,964 years in males and 1,847 years in females). (ref 1)

Looking at asthma as a contributing factor at death (not underlying/principal cause of death), there were 2,395 deaths in 2024 in which asthma was a contributing factor (1,475 females and 920 males) (ref 1)

Asthma deaths by state/territory and sex 2023 (ref 1)

Graphs from NAC infographic (ref 3):

In 2023-2024, there were 28,778 potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPH) due to asthma. (ref 1).

This is similar to the year before with 28,238 PPH in 2022-2023, compared to 22,985 in 2021-2022 (a year with pandemic measures), and 32,558 in 2018-2019 before the COVID pandemic. (ref 2)

Note: Asthma PPH are all hospitalisations with asthma as principal diagnosis in people aged 4 and over.

Asthma PPH by jurisdiction (2023-24)

Asthma PPH rate (per 1,000 people) by Indigenous status and state or territory of residence, 2023-2024 (ref 3)

(c) Includes other territories, overseas residents and unknown state of residence.

See linked Excel spreadsheets for ACT ED admission data 2022, 2023 and Jan-Sep 2024, for the two ACT public hospitals (Canberra and North Canberra Hospitals).

ACT Health asthma ED stats 2022 to 2023

ACT Health asthma ED stats 2022 to 2023.xlsx

ACT Health asthma ED stats Jan to Sept 2024 CHS DATA REPORT

ACT Health asthma ED stats Jan to Sept 2024 CHS DATA REPORT.xlsx

This data is obtained through the data Sharing Agreement with Canberra health services and should not be shared externally.

In 2023, there were 474 deaths with asthma as underlying cause in Australia, including 325 females and 149 males (see table below) (ref 1):
* Women over 75 are the most at risk, with 43% of asthma deaths in this age group in 2023 (Ref 2,3)
* Asthma deaths were nearly identical to last year, with a return to pre-pandemic level after seeing a reduction in 2021 due to pandemic measures resulting in fewer respiratory infections (ref 3)
* However, over the last 35 years, asthma deaths have halved, from 964 deaths in 1989 (ref 3)

The age-standardised death rate in 2023 was 1.4 deaths per 100,000 people (1.7 for females and 1.0 for males) which remains similar to before the pandemic. (ref 1)

Asthma deaths by state/territory and sex 2023 (ref 1)

NAC infographic (ref 2)

According the AIHW Asthma webpage updated on 17 Feb 2026:(ref 4)

480 people died from asthma (underlying cause) in 2023, with a death rate (not adjusted for age) of 1.8 deaths per 100,000 population.

Mortality rates:

• increased with age (highest in people 75+ at 13.2 per 100,000)
• was higher in females vs males, with a difference more pronounced in people 75+
• changed little over time
• was 3.4 times higher in First Nations people after adjusting for age (31 deaths in 2023, crude rate 3 per 100,000)

Tas specific data

Tas – PHN resource – community health profiles

Tas specific data for public hospital, hospitalisations, saved in file

According to the Australian Government Productivity Commission, in 2022 the proportion of people with asthma that had a written asthma action plan was:
– By age group Nationally: 72% of 0-14 yo; 39% of 15-24 yo; 20% of 25-44 yo; 27% of 45-64 yo; 27% of 65+ yo; 35% all ages combined (age-standardised)
– By age group and jurisdiction (states/territories): download table 10A.46

Note: same data published in 2024 and 2026 reports (ref 1 and 2)

AS: Age-standardised

* Estimate has a relative standard error (RSE) between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.

Age-standardised asthma hospitalisation rate in 2021-2022 in First Nations people vs other Australians, by jurisdictions:
– for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: 1.6 per 1,000 in NSW; 1.3 in VIC; 2.1 in QLD; 2.2 in WA; 2.0 in SA; 0.7 in TAS; 2.1 in ACT; 3.4 in NT, Nationally 2.0 per 1,000 (Table 10A.71)
– for other Australians (incl when indigenous status is not stated): 0.8 per 1,000 in NSW; 0.9 in VIC; 1.1 in QLD; 0.5 in WA; 1.0 in SA; 1.3 in TAS; 0.6 in ACT; 0.2 in NT, Nationally 0.9 per 1,000 (Table 10A.71)

AIHW has a website specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, providing statistics by geographical areas, including:
– A Closing the Gap dashboard: access regional statistics related to the 17 socioeconomic targets
– Regional Overview Dashboard: data down to the LGA level, including socioeconomic and health data (including asthma prevalence based on Census 2021)
– Service map: search for health and medical services available for each region

Snapshot of primary care in the ACT

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.

HealthStats NSW: interactive tool providing NSW-specific population health data

According to the South Australian Population Health Survey, which defines asthma as “diagnosed and experienced symptoms/treatment in the last 12 months”:
– 14.5% of South Australian adults reported having asthma in 2020, changed from 14.8% in 2018 and 13.8% in 2019.1
– 11.4% of South Australian children reported asthma in 2020, reduced from 14.9% in 2019 but similar to 9.9% in 2018.2
– 43.9% of South Australian adults with asthma were obese, compared to 32.8% in the entire SA population.1
Note: refer to Table 22 in adults report and Table 15 in Children report for incidence by gender, age, socio-economic index, education and household income); and Table 23 for incidence by risk factors (BMI, Vegetable and Fruit consumption, Physical activity, alcohol, smoking)

PPH for asthma (and other chronic conditions) between 2012-2013 and 2017-2018 by:
– National, state/territory, PHN and SA3
– Gender
– Age group and life stage
– Indigenous/non Indigenous
– Seasons
– SES area and remoteness

PPH per 100,000 included (crude rate).

Download the Excel table at https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/primary-health-care/disparities-in-potentially-preventable-hospitalisa/data-1 and then sort/filter according to your area of interest.

PPH rate (National)

PPH by Indigenous status

PPH by season

PPH 2017/2018 by age group, socio-economic status and remoteness:

In 2017-2018, only one third of Australian have a written Asthma Action Plan (32.3%, age-standardised)
– 65.9% of children aged 0-14 years old (age-standardised)
– 24.8% of people over 15 years and over (age-standardised) (ref 1)

Nationally in 2017-2018, the age-standardised proportion of people with asthma reporting that they have a written asthma action plan was 32.3 per cent (figure 10.6b), compared to 28.4 per cent in 2014-2015. In all jurisdictions, the proportion was higher for children aged 0–14 years than for other age groups (table 10A.46). Proportions for each states are also available. (ref 2)

Interpret NT data with caution as it excludes discrete Indigenous communities and very remote areas, which comprise around 29% of population

Note that this data is age-standardised.

Based on the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey 2018-2019

15.7% Indigenous Australians reported having asthma in 2018-2019: 13.4% of males and 15.7% of females (ref 1)

An estimated 128,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had asthma in 2018-2019 (16%), with a higher rate among females (18%) compared with males (13%). The prevalence of asthma among Indigenous Australians was was 1.6 times as high as non-Indigenous Australians after adjusting for difference in age structure, and the difference is more marked for older adults. (ref 4)

Asthma was the third most prevalent chronic condition in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. (ref 3)

Asthma was the most commonly self-reported long-term respiratory condition in 2018-2019 in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. (ref 1)

Prevalence by age groups: 11.5% of 0-14 yo; 13.8% of 15-24 yo; 15% of 25-34 yo; 17% of 35-44 yo; 20.8% of 45-54 yo; 25.8% of 55+ yo reported having asthma (ref 1 or ref 2)

Prevalence by jurisdictions: 18.6% in NSW; 18.0% in VIC; 13.7% in QLD; 12.6% in WA; 22.7% in SA; 21.9% in TAS; 25.3% in ACT; and 6.2% in NT (ref 2). Note: these statistics are also available stratified by remote/non-remote status in Table D1.04.20

Few studies investigate the influence of long-term exposure to low-level PM2.5 on cause-specific mortality, particularly for the concentrations consistently well below the current WHO annual standard. This study found long-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with total, non-accidental, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality in Queensland, Australia, where PM2.5 levels were measured well below the WHO air quality standard.