Neurological conditions in Australia

The Australian Burden of Disease Study (ABDS) undertaken by the AIHW provides information on the burden of disease for the Australian population. Burden of disease analysis measures the impact of fatal (years of life lost, YLL) and non-fatal burden (years lived with disability, YLD), with the sum of non-fatal and fatal burden equating to the total burden (disability-adjusted life year, DALY).

The Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024 includes national estimates for 220 diseases and injuries in 2024 based on projections using historical trends in data. Burden estimates may be revised in the future as more data become available. 

The ABDS 2024 also includes updated estimates of attributable burden due to selected modifiable risk factors, which were last updated as part of ABDS 2018. The 2018 study also includes a component on the impact and causes of illness and death in First Nations people, which includes estimates of the gap in disease burden between First Nations people and non-Indigenous people. Estimates of the burden of disease for First Nations people are available for 2003, 2011 and 2018.

The methods for estimation of burden of disease can be found in Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024, Technical notes. This includes descriptions for years of life lost (YLL), years lived with disability (YLD) and disability-adjusted life years (DALY).

For further information see Burden of disease.

The AIHW Disease Expenditure Database provides a broad picture of the use of health system resources classified by disease groups and conditions and was used in the AIHW report on Health expenditure Australia 2022–23. The report provides estimates of health system costs associated with specific diseases as well as disease groupings, such as neurological conditions.

The Disease Expenditure Database contains estimates of expenditure by the Australian Burden of Disease Study diseases and injuries, age group, and sex for admitted patient, emergency department and outpatient hospital services, out-of-hospital medical services, and prescription pharmaceuticals.

The database does not allocate all expenditure on health goods and services by disease – for example, neither administration expenditure nor capital expenditure can be meaningfully attributed to any particular condition due to their nature. For more information, see Health & Welfare expenditure.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) is a series of surveys conducted by the ABS to obtain national information on the health of First Nations people, their use of health services and health-related aspects of their lifestyle. The 2022–23 NATSIHS was conducted from August 2022 to March 2024. Data were collected from approximately 4,900 households around Australia, in both non-remote and remote areas, including discrete Indigenous communities. 

The survey collected a range of information about the health of respondents including the prevalence of long-term health conditions and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

A long-term health condition is defined as a condition that was current at the time of interview and had lasted, or was expected to last, 6 months or more.

Information on long-term health conditions was collected using:

• condition-specific modules to capture detailed information on a selection of conditions
• questions where respondents were prompted to review lists of conditions and identify each condition they had
• an open-ended question to capture any other conditions not already captured.

Questions varied to take into account differences between non-remote and remote populations and demographic characteristics. Respondents could report multiple health conditions. 

The 2022–23 NATSIHS uses the Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, 2020. Data in the NATSIHS publication are presented using the Sex at birth variable. Due to small numbers and the need to protect privacy, people who reported sex at birth as a term other than male or female are not reported separately and are either (1) included in the total Persons category when the statistics are taken directly from the ABS publications and data download tables, or (2) not included in the total person count when the statistics are derived by us in the ABS DataLab environment (such as for the SEIFA and remoteness prevalence estimates).

For further information on methodology, see National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey methodology, 2022-23.

The National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse (NACDC) is an independent and central repository of national aged care data. The NACDC was established in 2013, with the aim of increasing the availability, accessibility and coordination of aged care data. It brings together information on people receiving aged care and the services and organisations providing care. It largely contains administrative by-product data from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

The NACDC includes activity data for residential aged care programs, community-based aged care packages, aged care assessments and a number of other aged care programs and packages. The NACDC also includes recipient details, payment subsidies, and service (facility/provider) details. These data are refreshed annually (including a full replacement of historical data) by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and are sourced from the Human Services payment systems, centralised client record systems and minimum datasets.

This report presents information from one key datasets as part of the NACDC – data from the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI). This report uses the NACDC24 which contains aged care data to 30 June 2024 (including all historical ACFI data) with 2023-24 reference period.

For more information see National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse.

Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) data – permanent residential aged care

Up until 30 September 2022, the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) was used to allocate government funding to aged care providers to support meeting the daily care needs of the people in their care. A snapshot of people in permanent residential aged care on 30 June 2020 showed that ACFI data captured virtually all people living in permanent residential aged care (99.8%).

Although the ACFI was a funding instrument and not a diagnosis or comprehensive assessment tool, it collected information on the assessed care needs of people entering permanent residential aged care at the time of their appraisal. It is important to bear in mind that in some instances, not all services received were captured in ACFI assessments.

People using respite care in a residential aged care facility did not have an ACFI assessment unless they also received permanent care at some point. Therefore, information on residential respite care using ACFI data is not possible.

The ACFI data captured up to 3 behavioural or mental conditions, and up to 3 medical conditions impacting care, which are also considered when determining the level of funding required. As the ACFI only allowed for up to 3 medical and 3 mental/behavioural conditions to be recorded, for some people it will not provide a comprehensive list of health conditions affecting them.

The analyses presented in this report only use the latest ACFI assessment available for an individual’s latest episode of care.

On 1 October 2022, the ACFI was replaced with the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC), which does not capture health condition information. Data in this section will no longer be updated. 

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is an independent statutory agency. Their role is to implement the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The National Disability Insurance Agency holds all funds contributed by the Commonwealth, States and Territories in a single pool, manages scheme funds, administers access to the scheme and approves the payment of individualised support packages.

The NDIS eligibility requirements provide guidance on included disability types (List B: Conditions that are likely to result in a permanent impairment.

The National Health Survey (NHS) is a series of surveys conducted by the ABS since 1977. The 2022 NHS was conducted from January 2022 to April 2023. Data were collected from approximately 13,100 households around Australia in urban and rural areas, excluding Very remote parts of Australia and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. 

The survey collected a range of information about the health of respondents including the prevalence of long-term health conditions and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

A long-term health condition is defined in the NHS as a condition that was current at the time of interview and had lasted, or was expected to last, 6 months or more. 

Information on long-term health conditions was collected using:

• condition-specific modules to capture detailed information on a selection of conditions
• questions where respondents were prompted to review lists of conditions and identify each condition they had
• an open-ended question to capture any other conditions not already capture

The 2022 NHS uses the Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, 2020. Data in the NHS publication are presented using the Sex at birth variable. Due to small numbers and the need to protect privacy, people who reported sex at birth as a term other than male or female are not reported separately and are either (1) included in the total Persons category when the statistics are taken directly from the ABS publications and data download tables, or (2) not included in the total person count when the statistics are derived by us in the ABS DataLab environment (such as for the SEIFA and remoteness prevalence estimates).

For further information on methodology, see National Health Survey methodology, 2022.

The National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) is a compilation of episode-level records from admitted patient morbidity data collection systems in Australian hospitals.

Reporting to the NHMD occurs at the end of a person’s admitted episode of care (separation or hospitalisation) and is based on the clinical documentation for that hospitalisation.

The NHMD is based on the Admitted Patient Care National Minimum Data Set. It records information on admitted patient care (hospitalisations) in essentially all hospitals in Australia, and includes demographic, administrative and length-of-stay data, as well as data on the diagnoses of the patients, the procedures they underwent in hospital and external causes of injury and poisoning.

The hospital separations data do not include episodes of non-admitted patient care given in outpatient clinics or emergency departments. Patients in these settings may be admitted subsequently, with the care provided to them as admitted patients being included in the NHMD.

For more information see Admitted patient care NMDS 2023–24.

The National Mortality Database (NMD) comprises information about causes of death and other characteristics of the person, such as sex, age at death, area of usual residence and Indigenous status. The cause of death data are provided to the AIHW by the Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the National Coronial Information System (managed by the Victorian Department of Justice) and include cause of death coded by the ABS. The data are maintained by the AIHW in the NMD.

Notes regarding the NMD:

• Causes of death are coded by the ABS to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
• In this report, deaths are counted according to year of registration of death, not necessarily the year in which the death occurred.
• For mortality data by First Nations status, numbers and rates are reported for 6 jurisdictions combined – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. These jurisdictions are considered to have adequate levels of Indigenous identification in mortality data. Numbers of deaths are also reported for Victoria, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory, as well as nationally, however these data should be interpreted with caution due to concerns around the quality of Indigenous identification in those 3 jurisdictions.
• Causes of death data from 2006 onward are subject to a revisions process. Once data for a reference year are final, they are no longer revised. For this report, deaths registered in 2021 and earlier are based on the final version of Causes of Death data; deaths registered in 2022 are based on the revised version; deaths registered in 2023 are based on the preliminary version. Revised and preliminary versions are subject to further revision by the ABS.
• The data quality statements underpinning the AIHW National Mortality Database can be found in Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publications:
  • ABS quality declaration summary for Deaths, Australia methodology (Causes of Death, Australia methodology, 2023)
  • ABS quality declaration summary for Causes of Death, Australia methodology (Deaths, Australia methodology, 2024)
  • For more information on the AIHW National Mortality Database see Deaths data at AIHW.

For more information see National Mortality Database (NMD).

The National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NAPEDC) is a compilation of episode-level records (including waiting times for care) for non-admitted patients registered for care in emergency departments in selected public hospitals. The database only captures information for physical presentations to emergency departments and does not include advice provided via telehealth or videoconferencing.

Patients being treated in emergency departments may be subsequently admitted, including admission in the emergency department, another hospital ward or to hospital-in-the-home. For this reason, there is an overlap in the scope of the NNAPEDCD NMDS and the APC NMDS.

The National Non-Admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database includes information on people’s area of usual residence at the time of ED admission, demographics, as well as data on the diagnoses of the patients. For 2022–23, this was their SA2 based on the 2016 ASGS. In this report, 2016 SA2 values have been concorded to SA2 values based on the 2021 census prior to calculating rates.

The quality of the data reported for Indigenous (or First Nations) status in emergency departments has not been formally assessed. In addition, the scope of the NNAPEDCD may not include some emergency services provided in areas where the proportion of First Nation people (compared with other Australians) is higher than average. Therefore, the information on Indigenous status presented in this report should be used with caution.

For more information see Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2023–24.Principal diagnoses for episodes of care in the NNAPEDCD 2022–23 are coded according to the Emergency Department ICD-10-AM Principal Diagnosis Shortlist.