Australian Centre for Monitoring Population Health

The COVID-19 Register is a linked data asset that enables evidence-based research, and public health and health system planning for current and future pandemics. This linkage project also facilitates selected information to be fed back and incorporated into the local notifiable disease systems of states and territories to improve data completeness and utility.

The first version of the linked data was first made available to approved researchers in December 2022. The linked data has since been updated to Version 2 and Version 2.5. 

The purpose of this report is to briefly describe the linkage method and process, and compare high level linkage results for previous and current versions of the COVID-19 Register. This report will be a resource for future researchers wanting to use the data.

This release includes up to 20 years of weekly health service use data by Statistical Area Level 4 geography. It includes data relevant to respiratory, cardiovascular, and mental health conditions, as well as other health conditions. The report includes data and visualisations on:

• hospitalisations
• emergency department presentations
• Medicare Benefits Schedule service claims
• Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescriptions dispensed.

In 2022–‍2023, people with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds were much less likely to smoke, use e cigarettes, drink alcohol at risky levels or use illicit drugs than people who were born in Australia or who mainly spoke English at home.

This report examines changes in alcohol and other drug use among people born overseas and those who mainly speak a language other than English at home between 2019 and 2022–‍2023 and identifies some areas where further research may be required.

In the 2022–‍2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, there was an increase in the proportion of people aged 18 and over reporting high and very high levels of psychological distress (17%) and in the proportion receiving diagnoses and treatment for mental illness (18%), compared with 2019. While use of licit and illicit drugs remains high, the proportion of people smoking daily in both groups has declined since 2019.

This report explores the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs among people experiencing psychological distress, and those who have been diagnosed or treated for a mental health condition in the previous 12 months. While these two groups are explored separately, there is overlap between them, and comparisons between people experiencing psychological distress and people with a mental health condition should not be made directly.

The patterns of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use varied across socioeconomic areas in 2022–‍2023.

This report presents data from the 2022–‍2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey relating to the use of tobacco, electronic cigarettes and vapes, alcohol, and illicit drugs in Australia and how use has changed since 2019.

Between 2019 and 2022–‍2023, the proportion of people who smoked daily decreased in Major cities, Inner regional areas and Outer regional areas, while the proportion of people who used e-cigarettes daily increased in the same areas.

This report presents data from the 2022–‍2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey relating to use of alcohol, tobacco, e cigarettes and vapes, and illicit drugs by remoteness area in Australia.

Males have historically been more likely to use illicit drugs than females, however, 2022–‍2023 was the first time since monitoring began about two decades ago that more females aged 18–‍24 reported using illicit drugs than males of the same age.

This report presents data from the 2022–‍2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey relating to tobacco and e cigarette use, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use among young people aged 14–‍17 and 18–‍24.

Access to BreastScreen Australia screening services presents an interactive dashboard showing the minimum time it takes women aged 50–74, from the general and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) populations, to drive to a BreastScreen Australia screening service provided at a chosen frequency.

The dashboard presents results by state/‌territory and selected smaller geographic levels. More detailed analyses and additional geographic levels are featured in charts and data files.

The BreastScreen Australia data dictionary is intended to be the authoritative source of data definitions used by BreastScreen Australia to meet the need for national consistency in data collected for program monitoring and evaluation, and for accreditation of BreastScreen Australia services.

People living with mental illness, and in particular severe (and often long-term) mental illness, such as a psychotic disorder like schizophrenia, are more likely to develop comorbid physical illness and tend to die earlier than the general population.