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DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND SUBCUTANEOUS TISSUE (L00-L98)

Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00-L99) accounted for 401 deaths in Australia in 2008. Of these, 219 (55%) were female, and 182 (45%) were male. There were 171 (43%) deaths due to diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue aged between 85 and 94 years, and a further 128 (32%) aged between 75 and 84 years. The median age at death for all persons was 85.5 years, while the male and female median age at death were 83.7 years and 87.2 years respectively.

The key cause contributing to the increase over the last 10 years in the number of registered deaths from Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue was Cellulitis (L03), which increased from 85 registered deaths in 1999 to 210 registered deaths in 2008. Of these, 56% were female and 44% were male. The female median age at death of 87.5 years, was 2.8 years higher than the male median age at death of 84.7 years. Persons aged 65 years and over contributed to 94% of deaths due to Cellulitis.

Skin ulcers (L89 and L97) were the underlying cause of 96 registered deaths in 2008, a decrease from 123 in 1999. Of these, 58% were female and 42% were male. The median age at death for males dying from Skin ulcers was 84.0 years, 4 years lower than the female median age at death of 88.0 years.

4.11 SELECTED UNDERLYING CAUSES(a), Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue (L00-L98) - 2008(b)(c)(d)
			Males	Females	Persons	Proportion of all deaths
Cause of Death and ICD Code			no.	no.	no.	%
CHAPTER XII Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00-L99)			182	219	401	0.3
	Infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00-L08)		120	139	259	0.2
		Cellulitis (L03)	93	117	210	0.1
		Other local infections of skin and subcutaneous tissue (L08)	17	14	31	-
	Other disorders of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L80-L99)		49	71	120	0.1
		Decubitus ulcer (L89)	15	16	31	-
		Ulcer of lower limb, not elsewhere classified (L97)	25	40	65	-
		Other disorders of skin and subcutaneous tissue, not elsewhere classified (L98)	7	13	20	-
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Causes selected are those with 20 or more deaths at the 3 digit level of ICD-10.
(b) 2008 data have been subject to process improvements which have increased the quality of these data. See Technical Note 1: 2008 COD Collection - Process Improvements for further information.
(c) Causes of death data for 2008 are preliminary and subject to a revisions process. See Technical Note 2: Causes of Death - Revisions Process.
(d) Data cells with small values have been randomly assigned to protect the confidentiality of individuals. As a result, some totals will not equal the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been affected by confidentialisation.