• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

POTENTIALLY AVOIDABLE MORTALITY

A potentially avoidable death is one that could have theoretically been avoided given an understanding of causation, the adoption of available disease prevention initiatives and the use of available health care, for persons aged under 75 years. All causes of death that make up a potentially avoidable death are categorised into either a treatable or preventable category. For a full list of the causes of death that make up potentially avoidable deaths, see Appendix 3, Avoidable Mortality. The age-standardised avoidable death rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians was 496.9 per 100,000 persons, over three and a half times higher than for non-Indigenous Australians (135.9 per 100,000).

6.3 Avoidable deaths(a), NSW, Qld, SA, WA and NT(b) - by Indigenous status: 2012 (c)
	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander		Non-Indigenous
	no.	SDR(d)	no.	SDR(d)	Rate ratio(e)	Rate difference(f)
Preventable	947.5	304.9	13 925.5	84.8	3.6	220.1
Treatable	543.5	192.0	8 478.5	51.1	3.8	140.9
Avoidable	1 491.0	496.9	22 404.0	135.9	3.7	361.0
(a) Avoidable deaths is comprised of treatable and preventable deaths. See Appendix 3, Avoidable Mortality, for more information.
(b) Data are reported by jurisdiction of usual residence for NSW, Qld, WA, SA and the NT only. Only these five states and territories have evidence of a sufficient level of Indigenous identification and sufficient numbers of Indigenous deaths to support mortality analysis. See Explanatory Notes 68-76 for further information on interpreting data relating to deaths of Indigenous persons.
(c) Causes of death data for 2012 are preliminary and subject to a revisions process. See Explanatory Notes 29-33 and Technical Notes, Causes of Death Revisions, 2006 in Causes of Death, Australia, 2010 and Causes of Death Revisions, 2010 and 2011 in this publication. (d) Standardised death rate. Deaths per 100,000 of estimated mid-year population. See Glossary for further information. (e) Rate ratio is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate divided by the non-Indigenous rate. (f) Rate difference is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate less the non-Indigenous rate.