Asthma

Asthma is a long-term lung condition that is caused by narrowing of the airways when they become inflamed[1]. People with asthma experience difficulty breathing, and the most common symptoms are wheezing, coughing, breathlessness and chest tightness[1]. Asthma may affect people of all ages and can usually be managed through treatment such as medication use (e.g. reliever inhalers and preventer/controller medications) and a healthy lifestyle[2].

Just under 2.7 million people (10.7% of the total population) had asthma in 2020-21. Females were more likely than males to have asthma (12.0% compared to 9.4%); however, the rate of asthma was similar in boys and girls aged 0-14 years (9.5% and 7.9%).

In 2020-21, people:

• Born in Australia were more than twice as likely as those born overseas to have asthma (12.6% compared to 6.0%)
• Who lived in Inner Regional areas were more likely than those who lived in Outer Regional and Remote areas to have asthma (13.1% compared to 9.2%).

People with a profound or severe core activity limitation were almost three times more likely than those with no disability to have asthma (23.3% and 8.2%). People aged 18 years and over with asthma had higher rates than the general population of daily smoking (14.0% compared with 10.6%).

The National Asthma Council Australia recommends people with asthma should have their own individual written action plan that includes instructions on what to do when asthma symptoms worsen[2]. More than one in three (34.6%) people with asthma had a written action plan. Of those with asthma:

• More than three in five (65.9%) children under 18 years of age had a written action plan
• More than one in four (27.1%) people aged 18 years and over had a written action plan
• Women aged 18 years and over were more likely than men to have a written action plan (32.7% compared to 20.2%).

Frequency of medication use varies by age. Of those with asthma:

• Just under half (48.8%) of children under 18 years of age used asthma-related medication in the two weeks prior to the survey
• More than three in five (63.2%) people aged 18 years and over used asthma-related medication in two weeks prior to the survey
• One in three (34.9%) people of all ages used medication to help manage symptoms daily and two in five (39.8%) did not take medication in the two weeks prior to survey.

People aged 18 years and over with asthma rated their health more poorly when compared with the general population. People with asthma were less likely than the total population to rate their health as excellent or very good (38.5% compared to 55.6%).

1. The Department of Health, ‘What we’re doing about lung and respiratory conditions’, https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/chronic-conditions/what-were-doing-about-chronic-conditions/what-were-doing-about-lung-and-respiratory-conditions?utm_source=health.gov.au&utm_medium=callout-auto-custom&utm_campaign=digital_transformation; accessed 09/02/2022.
2. National Asthma Council Australia, ‘How is asthma treated?’, https://www.nationalasthma.org.au/understanding-asthma/how-is-asthma-managed; accessed 09/02/2022.

This release previously used catalogue number 4364.0.00.002.

17/06/2022 – This release contains:

Additional data cubes in the data downloads (table 12). This includes information on the number of chronic conditions and comorbidity of selected chronic conditions.

Correction to a footnote in table 1.

Data revision to ‘Usual sugar drink consumption’, ‘Usual diet drink consumption’, and ‘Does not usually consume sugar sweetened or diet drinks’ in table 4.

21/07/2022 – This release contains:

Data revision to ‘Family composition of household’ in table 3.

See National Health Survey 2020-21 Media release for more information.