Emergency department presentations
Page highlights:
Hypertensive disease Emergency Department presentations
- In 2023–24, there were around 31,000 Emergency Department (ED) presentations with a principal diagnosis of hypertensive disease with 93% of these attributed to primary hypertension.
- The rate of hypertensive disease ED presentations was highest in people aged 85 and over for both males and females.
- The hypertensive disease ED presentation rate for females was 1.5 times as high as the male rate, after adjusting for age.
Hypertensive disease presentations
Hypertensive disease refers to conditions associated with hypertension including primary hypertension, hypertensive heart disease, hypertensive kidney disease, hypertensive heart and kidney disease and secondary hypertension.
According to data from the National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care (NNAPEDC), there were about 31,000 ED presentations with a principal diagnosis of hypertensive disease in 2023–24 – a rate of 115 per 100,000 population.
The majority of the hypertensive disease presentations were attributed to primary hypertension (93%) at a rate of 107 per 100,000 population.
Variation by age and sex
In 2023–24 hypertensive disease ED presentation rates:
- increased with age, peaking among people aged 85 and over for both males and females (398 and 856 per 100,000 population, respectively).
- were consistently higher among females than males for those aged 25 and over (Figure 21).
- were 1.5 times as high for females as for males, after adjusting for age.
Figure 21: Emergency Department presentations with a principal diagnosis of hypertensive disease, by age and sex, 2023–24
The chart shows rates increased with age and were higher among females than males in those aged 25 and over. The gap widens with increasing age.
| Age group | Males | Females |
|---|---|---|
| 0–24 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| 25–34 | 22.4 | 33.9 |
| 35–44 | 59.4 | 71.7 |
| 45–54 | 111.8 | 117.2 |
| 55–64 | 148.8 | 180.7 |
| 65–74 | 204.3 | 340.5 |
| 75–84 | 304.9 | 629.5 |
| 85+ | 397.8 | 856.2 |
Source:
AIHW National Non-Admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database
|
Data source overview
Variation by priority population groups
In 2023–24, after adjusting for the differences in the age structure of the populations:
- ED presentation rates increased with remoteness. The rate for people living in Remote and very remote areas was 1.8 times as high as the rate for those in Major cities.
- rates of ED presentation also increased with socioeconomic disadvantage. People living in the lowest socioeconomic area presented to ED at twice the rate of people in the highest socioeconomic area (Figure 22).
Figure 22: Emergency Department presentations with a principal diagnosis of hypertensive disease, by selected population group and sex, 2023–24
The chart shows that rates increased with increasing remoteness and socioeconomic disadvantage for both males and females.
| Remoteness area | Male | Female | Persons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major cities | 66.4 | 98.8 | 84.0 |
| Inner regional | 89.6 | 132.3 | 112.1 |
| Outer regional | 94.1 | 142.5 | 118.7 |
| Remote and very remote | 125.1 | 184.6 | 153.5 |
| Socioeconomic area | Male | Female | Persons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 (most disadvantaged) | 100.7 | 143.0 | 123.1 |
| Group 2 | 90.4 | 134.3 | 113.8 |
| Group 3 | 70.2 | 109.9 | 91.4 |
| Group 4 | 61.3 | 92.1 | 78.1 |
| Group 5 (least disadvantaged) | 48.0 | 72.0 | 61.0 |
- Age-standardised to the 2001 Australian Standard Population.
- Includes persons with missing or unassigned information on age and/or sex. Excludes persons whose remoteness area and/or socioeconomic area was missing or unassigned.
- Remoteness is classified according to the ASGS Remoteness Areas structure based on 2021 ASGS Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) of usual residence.
- Socioeconomic groups are classified according to population-based quintiles using the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage based on 2021 ASGS Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) of usual residence.
Source:
AIHW National Non-Admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database
|
Data source overview
For information about First Nations people, see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people.
Triage category
Triage category is used to indicate the level of urgency of a patient’s need for care. Of all the ED presentations with a principal diagnosis of hypertensive disease in 2023–24:
- 54 (0.2%) were triaged as ‘resuscitation’ indicating a need for immediate care
- 5,500 (18%) were categorised as ‘emergency’ (within 10 minutes)
- 17,400 (56%) as ‘urgent’ (within 30 minutes)
- 7,200 (23%) as ‘semi-urgent’ (within 60 minutes)
- 855 (2.8%) as ‘non-urgent’ (within 120 minutes).
The proportion of hypertensive disease presentations that were urgent was higher than that for all ED presentations in 2023–24 (56% and 41%, respectively) (AIHW 2025). Proportions of hypertensive disease presentations for triage categories, resuscitation and emergency were similar to all ED presentations in 2023–24.
Emergency Department discharge status
Around 2 in 3 people (68%) presenting to ED with a principal diagnosis of hypertensive disease in 2023–24 were discharged without being admitted or referred to another hospital. Over one-quarter (27%) were admitted to the same hospital, with an additional 1% being referred to another hospital for admission.
AIHW (2025) Australia's hospitals at a glance, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 2 December 2025