While asthma was included in the analysis of all respiratory conditions, emergency department presentations with a principal diagnosis of asthma (ICD-10-AM codes J45–J46) were also analysed separately due to the known association with air pollution from bushfires (see Australian bushfires 2019–20: exploring the short-term health impacts).
Nationally, the greatest increase in the asthma presentation rate was 44% in the week beginning 12 January 2020—4.7 per 100,000 persons (about 1,200 presentations), compared with 3.3 per 100,000 in the previous bushfire season (about 820 presentations). The week beginning 5 January 2020 saw a similar increase in the rate of presentations.
To explore national data and data for states and territories, see interactive data visualisations below (for data tables see Supplementary table S3).