This indicator shows the number and rate per 1,000 adults aged 12 years or over years who were admitted to hospital with asthma as the primary diagnosis. ED admissions meeting the three-hour rule are included in this indicator.
Hospital admissions with asthma are considered to be potentially preventable by addressing exposure to risk factors eg, cigarette smoking, poor quality housing, access to primary healthcare and appropriate use of preventer medication. Asthma is a major health problem in New Zealand and our prevalence rates are among some of the highest in the world. The cost burden of Asthma is estimated by the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand (ARFNZ) to be $1.195b in direct costs from hospitalisations, prescriptions and primary care visits and $918.9 in indirect costs from work days lost, disability affected life years and mortality.
Numerator detail
Code (ICD10 AM): J45 Asthma; J46 Status Asthmaticus
Disaggregation
District analysis: By year (2018 –2023), age group (12 –24, 25 –44, 45 64, 65+), gender (female, male), ethnic group (Māori, Pacific peoples, European/Other) and Health New Zealand district of domicile.
PHO analysis: By year (2023), age group, gender, ethnic group, Primary Health Organisation (PHO) most recently enrolled with (for the relevant year), PHO group (small, medium, medium-large and large).
People who were excluded from analysis include:
- those who aren’t enrolled in a PHO in the calendar year. This allowed us to use the number of PHO-enrolled people as the denominator.
- individuals with missing demographics – that is, those with no recorded value for one or more of the NHI fields used to derive the demographic variables of interest (age, gender, ethnicity and district of domicile). For instance, if there are any missing values for age, they are excluded from all analyses. This approach ensures a consistent denominator throughout the analyses.
Age group is assigned using 30 June of each calendar year as the cutoff point. For example, if a person turned 45 years old on 1 July 2023, they will still be considered 44 years old for 2023.
People who died during the calendar year are included in this indicator.
Data is not presented where the number of people in the numerator was less than 10. This is to preserve confidentiality.
In contrast to other atlases, and following advice, we defined regular dispensing as the medication dispensed in two or more quarters of the calendar year. The reason for this difference is that some inhalers can last for more than three months.