Disease-related information
Information on the number of hospitalisations due to a particular disease, including cancer and other specific diseases (see below), is based on the principal diagnosis, such that the number of hospitalisations for which a certain disease was coded as the principal diagnosis is counted. The principal diagnosis is ‘the diagnosis established after study to be chiefly responsible for occasioning the patient’s episode of admitted patient care’ (ACCD 2016; AIHW 2022).
Information relating to cancer
The ICD-10-AM diagnosis codes used in the Admitted patient care section to identify patients with cancer mirrors the approach used in AIHW’s Cancer in Australia 2021 (see Appendix D in AIHW 2021). This approach considers that, for some cancer-related hospitalisations, the treatment relating to the patient’s cancer (such as chemotherapy or the insertion of a drug delivery device) is recorded as the principal diagnosis, rather than the specific form of cancer the person had, as per ICD-10-AM coding standards (NCCH 2010). Thus, two different criteria are used to identify those hospitalisations with a principal diagnosis of cancer; these are summarised below.
Approach used to identify hospitalisations with a principal diagnosis of cancer
Hospitalisations that met one of the following criteria were considered to have a principal diagnosis of cancer.
Those with a principal diagnosis code of C00–C96, D45, D46, D47.1 or D47.3–D47.5 from the ‘Neoplasms’ chapter of ICD-10-AM.
Note that some ICD-10-AM ‘D’ codes are included in this list of invasive neoplasms (that is, cancers) since the related diseases – such as polycythaemia vera (D45) – were not considered to be invasive at the time of the publication of ICD-10 (WHO 1992) but were reclassified as invasive with the publication of the ICD classification that dealt specifically with neoplasms (WHO 2000).
- Those with a principal diagnosis from Chapter 21 of ICD-10-AM (that is, ICD-10-AM ‘Z’ codes) that was directly related to receiving health services or treatment for cancer as follows:
- Follow-up examination after treatment for malignant neoplasms (Z08)
- Breast prophylactic surgery for risk-factors related to malignant neoplasms (Z40.00)
- Ovary prophylactic surgery for risk-factors related to malignant neoplasms (Z40.01)
- Radiotherapy session (Z51.0)
- Pharmacotherapy session for neoplasm (Z51.1)
- Convalescence following radiotherapy (Z54.1)
- Convalescence following chemotherapy (Z54.2)
Source: AIHW 2021.
Information relating to other specific diseases
Some diagnoses for palliative care patients are shown at a specific disease level. The best way to group ICD-10-AM codes to identify some diseases (such as heart failure, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is not always straightforward, as different approaches are used in the literature. From 2020, groupings similar to those used in AIHW’s reporting on Deaths in Australia (AIHW 2024) have been used, with some variations. A full list is shown in Table 1 below.
Diagnosis codes (ICD-10-AM) | Disease description |
|---|---|
A00–A09 | Intestinal infectious diseases |
A15–A19 | Tuberculosis |
A20, A44, A75–A79, A82–A84, A85.2, A90–A96, A98.0, A98.1, A98.2, A98.8, B50–B57 | Vector-borne diseases and rabies |
A21–A28 | Certain zoonotic bacterial diseases excl. plague |
A30–A49 excl. A33–A37, A39, A40–A41, A44 | Other bacterial diseases excl. vaccine-preventable diseases, meningitis, septicaemia |
A33–A37, A80, B01, B05, B06, B15, B16, B17.0, B18.0, B18.1, B18.9, B19, B26 | Vaccine-preventable diseases |
A39, G00–G03 | Meningitis |
A40–A41 | Septicaemia |
A50–A64 | Infections with predominantly sexual mode of transmission |
A65–A69 | Other spirochaetal diseases |
A70–A74 | Other diseases caused by chlamydia |
A80–A89 excl. A80, A82–A84, A85.2 | Viral infections of the central nervous system excl. vaccine-preventable diseases, vector-borne diseases and rabies |
A98.3, A98.4, A98.5, A99 | Unspecified and selected other viral haemorrhagic fevers |
B00–B09 excl. B01, B05, B06 | Viral infections with skin and mucous membrane lesions excl. vaccine-preventable diseases |
B15–B19 excl. B15, B16, B17.0, B18.0, B18.1, B18.9, B19 | Viral hepatitis excl. vaccine-preventable diseases |
B20–B24 | Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease |
B25–B34 excl. B26 | Other viral diseases excl. mumps |
B35–B49 | Mycoses |
B50–B64 excl. B50–B57 | Protozoal diseases excl. vector-borne diseases |
B65–B83 | Helminthiases |
B85–B89 | Pediculosis, acariasis and other infestations |
B90–B94 | Sequelae of infectious and parasitic diseases |
B95–B98 | Bacterial, viral and other infectious agents |
B99 | Other infectious diseases |
C00–C14 | Malignant neoplasms of lip, oral cavity and pharynx |
C15 | Oesophageal cancer |
C16 | Stomach cancer |
C17 | Malignant neoplasm of small intestine |
C18–C20, C26.0 | Colorectal cancer |
C21 | Anal cancer |
C22 | Liver cancer |
C23, C24 | Gallbladder cancer |
C25 | Pancreatic cancer |
C26, C39, C76–C80 excl. C26.0 | Cancer of unknown or ill-defined primary site |
C30, C31, C35–C38 | Selected malignant neoplasms of respiratory and intrathoracic organs |
C32 | Laryngeal cancer |
C33, C34 | Lung cancer |
C40–C41 | Malignant neoplasms of bone and articular cartilage |
C43 | Melanoma of the skin |
C44 | Other malignant neoplasms of skin |
C45–C49 | Malignant neoplasms of mesothelial and soft tissue |
C50 | Breast cancer |
C51, C52, C57, C58 | Malignant neoplasms of vulva, vagina, other female genital organs, placenta |
C53–C55 | Uterine cancer |
C56 | Ovarian cancer |
C60, C62, C63 | Malignant neoplasms of penis, testis, other male genital organs |
C61 | Prostate cancer |
C64 | Kidney cancer |
C65, C66, C68 | Malignant neoplasms of renal pelvis, bladder, other urinary organs |
C67 | Bladder cancer |
C69, C70, C72 | Malignant neoplasms of eye, adnexa, meninges, spinal cord, other parts of the central nervous system |
C71 | Brain cancer |
C73–C75 | Malignant neoplasms of thyroid and other endocrine glands |
C81–C86, C96 | Lymphomas |
C88, C90 | Malignant immunoproliferative diseases, multiple myeloma and malignant plasma cell neoplasms |
C91–C95 | Leukaemia |
C97 | Malignant neoplasms of independent (primary) multiple sites |
D00–D48 | Benign neoplasms, in situ and uncertain behaviour |
D50–D53, E40–E64 | Malnutrition and nutritional anaemias |
D55–D59 | Haemolytic anaemias |
D60–D64 | Aplastic and other anaemias |
D65–D69 | Coagulation defects, purpura and other haemorrhagic conditions |
D70–D77 | Other diseases of blood and blood-forming organs |
D80–D89 | Certain disorders involving the immune mechanism |
E00–E07 | Disorders of thyroid gland |
E09 | Impaired glucose regulation |
E10–E14 | Diabetes |
E15, E16 | Other disorders of glucose regulation and pancreatic internal secretion |
E20–E35 | Disorders of other endocrine glands |
E65–E68 | Obesity and other hyperalimentation |
E70–E89 excl. E86, E87 | Selected metabolic disorders excl. dehydration |
E86–E87 | Disorders of fluid, electrolyte and acid-based balance (dehydration) |
F00, F01, F03, G30 | Dementia and Alzheimer disease |
F04–F09 | Organic mental disorders excl. dementia |
F10–F19 | Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use |
F20–F29 | Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders |
F30–F39 | Mood (affective) disorders |
F40–F48 | Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders |
F50–F59 | Behavioural syndromes associated with physiological disturbances and physical factors |
F60–F69 | Disorders of adult personality and behaviour |
F70–F79 | Mental retardation |
F80–F89 | Disorders of psychological development |
F90–F98 | Behavioural and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence |
F99 | Unspecified mental disorder |
G04–G09 | Inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system excl. meningitis |
G10, G11, G13 | Huntington disease and hereditary ataxia |
G12 | Spinal muscular atrophy and related syndromes |
G14 | Post-polio syndrome |
G20 | Parkinson disease |
G21–G26 | Extrapyramidal and movement disorders excl. Parkinson disease |
G31–G32 | Other degenerative diseases of nervous system excl. Alzheimer disease |
G35–G37 | Demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system |
G40, G41 | Epilepsy and status epilepticus |
G42–G47 | Episodic and paroxysmal disorders excl. epilepsy |
G50–G59 | Nerve, nerve root and plexus disorders |
G60–G64 | Polyneuropathies and other disorders of the peripheral nervous system |
G70–G73 | Diseases of myoneural junction and muscle |
G80–G83 | Cerebral palsy and other paralytic syndromes |
G90–G99 | Other disorders of the nervous system |
H00–H59 | Diseases of the eye and adnexa |
H60–H95 | Diseases of the ear and mastoid process |
I00–I02 | Acute rheumatic fever |
I05–I09 | Chronic rheumatic heart disease |
I10–I15 | Hypertensive disease |
I20–I25 | Coronary heart disease |
I26–I28 | Pulmonary heart disease and diseases of pulmonary circulation |
I30–I33, I39–I41, I43–I45, I52 | Selected other forms of heart disease |
I34–I38 | Non-rheumatic valve disorders |
I42 | Cardiomyopathy |
I46 | Cardiac arrest |
I47–I49 | Cardiac arrhythmias |
I50–I51 | Heart failure and complications and ill-defined heart disease |
I60–I69 | Cerebrovascular disease |
I70 | Atherosclerosis |
I71 | Aortic aneurysm and dissection |
I72–I79 | Diseases of arteries, arterioles and capillaries excl. atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysm and dissection |
I80–I89 | Diseases of veins, lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes, not elsewhere classified |
I95–I98 | Other and unspecified disorders of the circulatory system |
J00–J06, J20–J22 | Acute respiratory diseases excl. influenza and pneumonia |
J09–J18 | Influenza and pneumonia |
J30–J39 | Other diseases of upper respiratory tract |
J40–J44 | Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) |
J45–J46 | Asthma |
J47 | Bronchiectasis |
J60–J70 | Lung diseases due to external agents |
J80–J84 | Pulmonary oedema and other interstitial pulmonary diseases |
J85–J86 | Suppurative and necrotic conditions of lower respiratory tract |
J90–J94 | Other diseases of pleura |
J95–J99 excl. J96 | Other diseases of the respiratory system |
J96 | Chronic respiratory failure |
K00–K14 | Diseases of oral cavity, salivary glands and jaws |
K20–K31 | Diseases of oesophagus, stomach and duodenum |
K35–K46, K56 | Appendicitis, hernia and intestinal obstruction |
K50–K52 | Non-infective enteritis and colitis |
K55, K57–K64 | Other diseases of intestines excl. paralytic ileus and intestinal obstruction without hernia |
K65–K67 | Diseases of peritoneum |
K70–K76 | Liver disease |
K80–K87 | Disorders of gallbladder, biliary tract and pancreas |
K90–K93 | Other diseases of the digestive system |
L00–L08 | Infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue |
L10–L14 | Bullous disorders |
L20–L30 | Dermatitis and eczema |
L40–L45 | Papulosquamous disorders |
L50–L54 | Urticaria and erythema |
L55–L59 | Radiation-related disorders of the skin and subcutaneous tissue |
L60–L75 | Disorders of skin appendages |
L80–L99 | Other disorders of the skin and subcutaneous tissue |
M00–M99 | Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue |
N00–N08 | Glomerular disease |
N10–N16 | Renal tubulo-interstitial disease |
N17–N19 | Kidney failure |
N20–N23 | Urolithiasis |
N25–N29 | Other kidney or ureter disorders |
N30–N39 | Other urinary disorders |
N40–N51 | Diseases of male genital organs |
N60–N64 | Disorders of breast |
N70–N77 | Inflammatory diseases of female pelvic organs |
N80–N98 | Non-inflammatory disorders of female genital tract |
N99 | Other disorders of genitourinary tract |
O00–O99 | Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium |
P00–P96, Q00–Q99 | Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period, congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities |
R00–R94, R96–R99 | Other ill-defined causes |
R95 | Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) |
S00–S99 | Injuries to specific parts of the body |
T00–T98 | Injuries to multiple body regions, crushing, asphyxiation, poisoning by drugs, other |
V01–V89 | Land transport accidents |
V90–V94 | Water transport accidents |
V95–V97 | Air and space transport accidents |
V98–V99 | Other and unspecified transport accidents |
W00–W19 | Accidental falls |
W20–W49 excl. W32–W34 | Exposure to inanimate mechanical forces excl. firearms |
W32–W34 | Non-intentional firearm discharge |
W50–W64 | Exposure to animate mechanical forces |
W65–W74 | Accidental drowning and submersion |
W75–W84 | Accidental threats to breathing |
W85–W99 | Exposure to electric current, radiation and extreme ambient air temperature and pressure |
X00–X09 | Exposure to smoke, fire and flames |
X10–X19 | Contact with heat and hot substances |
X20–X29 | Contact with venomous animals and plants |
X30–X39 | Exposure to forces of nature |
X40–X49 | Accidental poisoning |
X50–X57 | Overexertion, travel and privation |
X58 | Exposure to other specified factors |
X59 | Exposure to unspecified factor |
X60–X84 | Suicide |
X85–Y09 | Assault |
Y10–Y34 | Event of undetermined intent |
Y35–Y36 | Legal intervention and operations of war |
Y40–Y59 | Drugs, medicaments and biological substances causing adverse effects in therapeutic use |
Y60–Y69 | Misadventures to patients during surgical and medical care |
Y70–Y82 | Medical devices associated with misadventures in diagnostic and therapeutic use |
Y83–Y84 | Surgical and other medical procedures as the cause of abnormal reaction of the patient, or of later complication, without mention of misadventure at the time of the procedure |
Y85–Y89 | Sequelae of external causes of morbidity and mortality |
Y90–Y98 | Supplementary factors related to causes of morbidity and mortality classified elsewhere |
Z00–Z99 | Factors influencing health status and contact with health services |
ACCD (Australian Consortium for Classification Development) (2016) The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) – 10th edition – and the Australian Classification of Health Interventions (ACHI) – 10th edition – tabular list of diseases, and Alphabetic index of diseases, Adelaide: Independent Hospital Pricing Authority.
AIHW (2021) Cancer in Australia 2021, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 8 August 2024.
AIHW (2022) Admitted Patients, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 17 August 2023.
AIHW (2024) Deaths in Australia, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 8 August 2024.
NCCH (National Centre for Classification in Health) (2010) Australian coding standards for ICD-10-AM and ACHI, seventh edition. Sydney: NCCH.
WHO (World Health Organization) (1992) International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision. Vol. 1. Geneva: WHO.
WHO (2000) International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, 3rd Edition (ICD-O-3), WHO website, accessed 27 August 2024.