Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Australia

The data used in this report for hospitalisation are drawn from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) National Hospital Morbidity Database. This database includes data on virtually all hospital admissions in Australia, in both public and private hospitals. Data are collected for each episode of hospital care (called a hospital separation), which starts when a patient is admitted to hospital and ends when the hospital stay ends, or there is change in the type of care (for example, from acute care to rehabilitation hospital care).

Most diseases or conditions are recorded as a diagnosis following these criteria:

• Diseases are recorded as principal diagnosis when they are considered to be the primary reason for the patient being hospitalised.
• Diseases that coexist with principal diagnosis, or arise during the episode of care, are recorded as additional diagnoses when they affect the management of patients in terms of requiring therapeutic treatment, diagnostic procedures, or increased nursing care and/or monitoring (AIHW 2024).