Data sources
This page outlines the data sources used for the Hypertension in Australia report.
The National Health Measures Survey (NHMS) 2022–24 collected biomedical samples from respondents who participated in the National Health Survey (NHS) 2022 or the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NNPAS) 2023. The NHMS aimed to provide information on chronic disease and nutrient biomarker levels and health risk factors.
Additionally, content common to both the NHS 2022 and the NNPAS 2023, such as blood pressure measurements and some self-reported long-term conditions, were pooled together in the NHMS 2022–24 to create a larger sample for analysis.
When interpreting data from the NHMS 2022–24, some limitations need to be considered:
- data that are self-reported rely on respondents knowing ad providing accurate information
- the survey does not include information from people living in nursing homes or otherwise institutionalised
- residents of Very remote areas and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were excluded from the survey. This is unlikely to affect national estimates, but will impact prevalence estimates by remoteness.
- physical measurements such as measured high blood pressure have relatively high rate of non-response due to their voluntary and sensitive nature. The non-response rates for measured high blood pressure is 39.0% of NHS participants and 31.5% of NNPAS participants.
For more information, see:
The National Health Survey (NHS) is conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to obtain national information on the health status of Australians, their use of health services and facilities, and health-related aspects of their lifestyle. The most recent NHS was conducted in 2022.
The NHS collects self-reported data on whether a respondent had one or more long-term health conditions; that is, conditions that lasted, or were expected to last, 6 months or more.
When interpreting data from the 2022 NHS, some limitations need to be considered:
- data that are self-reported rely on respondents knowing and providing accurate information
- the survey does not include information from people living in nursing homes or otherwise institutionalised
- residents of Very remote areas and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were excluded from the survey. This is unlikely to affect national estimates but will impact prevalence estimates by remoteness.
For more information see:
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) is conducted by the ABS to obtain national information on the health of Indigenous Australians, their use of health services and health-related aspects of their lifestyle. The most recent NATSIHS was conducted in 2022–23.
The NATSIHS collects information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages in non-remote and remote areas of Australia, including discrete Indigenous communities.
Between 2016 and 2021, based on Census data, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population increased by 25.2% or 163,557 people. Due to the large increase in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, care should be taken when comparing estimates from the 2022–23 NATSIHS with previous surveys.
For more information see:
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 (APC NMDS). 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.
The following care types were excluded when undertaking the analysis: 7.3 (newborn – unqualified days only), 9 (organ procurement – posthumous) and 10 (hospital boarder).
The National Hospital Morbidity Database include information on people’s area of usual residence at the time of hospitalisation. For 2023–24, this was their SA2 based on the 2021 ASGS.
Further information about the NHMD can be found in Admitted patient care NMDS 2023–24.
The National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NNAPEDCD) 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. For 2023–24, this was their SA2 based on the 2021 ASGS.
Principal diagnoses for episodes of care in the NNAPEDCD 2023–24 are coded according to the Emergency Department ICD-10-AM Principal Diagnosis Shortlist.
Further information about the NNAPEDCD can be found in Non-admitted patient emergency department 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.
In this report, deaths registered in 2020 and earlier are based on the final version of cause of death data; deaths registered in 2021 are based on the revised version; and deaths registered in 2022 and 2023 are based on the preliminary version. Revised and preliminary versions are subject to further revision by the ABS.
For data by Indigenous status, counts of death are reported for 8 jurisdictions combined – New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Death 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 identifying First Nations people in mortality data.
The NMD includes information on people’s area of usual residence prior to death. For 2023, this was their SA2 based on the 2021 ASGS. This location information from the National Mortality Database, along with IRSD values based on the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, and estimated resident populations for 2023, have been used to approximate statistics for 2023 ASGS Remoteness Areas and 2023 IRSD SEIFA quintiles.
The data quality statements underpinning the AIHW NMD can be found in the following ABS publications:
- ABS quality declaration summary for Deaths, Australia.
- ABS quality declaration summary for Causes of death, Australia.
For more information see National Mortality Database (NMD).
The Australian Burden of Disease Study 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. Projected estimates were done for the first time in ABDS 2022 and have been updated annually since. Burden estimates may be revised in the future as more data become available
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 risk factor burden and the impact and causes of illness and death in First Nations people. The 2022 First Nations Burden of Disease Study provides latest estimates of the burden of disease for First Nations people.
General methods for estimation of burden of disease can be found in Australian Burden of Disease Study: methods and supplementary material 2018. This includes descriptions for years of life lost (YLL), years lived with disability (YLD), disability-adjusted life years (DALY) and health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE).
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.
It contains estimates of expenditure by Australian Burden of Disease Study conditions, age group, and sex for public and private hospital admitted patients, public hospital emergency department, public hospital outpatient services, primary health care (general practitioner services, dental expenditure, allied health and other services, pharmaceutical benefits scheme) and referred medical services (medical imaging, pathology and specialist services).
It 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 and details on the methods used, see:
The AIHW’s National Perinatal Data Collection (NPDC) is a national population-based dataset which collates data on pregnancy and childbirth in Australia. The data are based on births reported to the perinatal data collection in each state and territory in Australia. Midwives and other birth attendants, using information obtained from mothers and from hospital or other records, complete notification forms for each birth. A standard de-identified extract is provided to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on an annual basis to form the NPDC.
For further information about the NPDC, including the scope of the collection, variables used and data quality statement see: