Glossary
Age-specific rate: A rate for a specific age group. The numerator and denominator relate to the same age group.
Age-standardisation: A way to remove the influence of age when comparing populations with different age structures. This is usually necessary because the rates of many diseases vary strongly (usually increasing) with age. The age structures of the different populations are converted to the same 'standard' structure, and then the disease rates that would have occurred with that structure are calculated and compared.
Associated cause(s) of death: Any condition(s), diseases and injuries – other than the underlying cause of death – considered to contribute to a death.
COVID-19: A disease of the respiratory system, particularly in the early stages of the illness, caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Common early symptoms are similar to other respiratory illnesses, but the infection can have a wide variety of manifestations. In some people the infection can progress to become a more severe disease, with the immune system overreacting, resulting in inflammation and lack of oxygen to many parts of the body. This can lead to multiple organ failure and death. Severe symptoms tend to develop in the second week of the disease.
Dementia: A term used to describe a group of similar conditions characterised by the gradual impairment of brain function. It is commonly associated with memory loss, but can affect speech, cognition (thought), behaviour and mobility. An individual’s personality may also change, and health and functional ability decline as the condition progresses. Common types of dementia are Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and mixed types of dementia.
Excess mortality: A term used to describe additional mortality during a given period of time, relative to what would have been expected based on modelling historical deaths data. Further information on excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic can be found in the Australian Bureau of Statistics report: Measuring excess mortality in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mortality: Number or rate of deaths in a population during a given time period
Pandemic: A new infectious disease that is rapidly spreading across a large region, or worldwide, and affecting large numbers of people.
Remoteness classification: Each state and territory is divided into several regions based on their relative accessibility to goods and services (such as to general practitioners, hospitals and specialist care) as measured by road distance. These regions are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia and defined as Remoteness Areas by either the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) (before 2011) or the Australian Statistical Geographical Standard (ASGS) (from 2011 onwards) in each Census year. The five Remoteness Areas are Major cities, Inner regional, Outer regional, Remote and Very remote.
Respiratory condition: A condition affecting the airways and characterised by symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and cough. Conditions include asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA): A set of indexes, created from Census data, which aim to represent the socioeconomic position of Australian communities and identify areas of advantage and disadvantage. The index value reflects the overall or average level of disadvantage of the population of an area; it does not show how individuals living in the same area differ from each other in their socioeconomic group. This report uses the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage.
Underlying cause of death: The primary or main cause of death: the condition, disease or injury that initiated the sequence of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury.
Virus: An infective agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat, is too small to be seen by light microscopy, and is able to multiply only within the living cells of a host