Potentially avoidable deaths 2023 – AIHW

AIHW data shows that in 2023, asthma was the 19th leading cause of potentially avoidable deaths for females aged under 75, with 119 deaths or 0.5% of all deaths (crude mortality rate 1.0 per 100,000; ages standardised mortality rate 0.8 per 100,000).

The leading cause for females was breast cancer with 1,667 deaths or 7.4% of all deaths (crude rate 13.6; age standardised rate 13.6 per 100,000).

Asthma was not listed in the top 20 leading causes of potentially avoidable deaths for males, nor for males and females combined.

Potentially avoidable deaths are deaths among people younger than 75 due to conditions that could have been prevented within the present health care system, through individualised care and/or treatable through existing primary or hospital care. Potentially avoidable deaths serve as an indicator of the health of Australians and the performance of the healthcare system