2 ARF notifications in 2024
0 RHD notifications in 2024
A notification rate is a way of measuring how often a health condition is reported in a population group over time. The ARF notification rate in Māori and Pasifika people was 1.43 per 100,000 people in 2024. There were no RHD notifications in Māori and Pasifika people aged less than 35 years in 2024.
ARF was most commonly diagnosed in Māori and Pasifika males and females between the ages of 5-24 years.
RHD was most commonly diagnosed in Māori and Pasifika males between 5-14 years and females between the ages of 25-34 years. RHD is not notifiable in people aged 35 years and older in NSW.
ARF can progress to RHD when permanent damage to the heart valve occurs. Of Māori and Pasifika people diagnosed with ARF, 6 (35%) were also diagnosed with RHD. Out of the 6 people also diagnosed with RHD, 4 (67%) were diagnosed with RHD between 0-3 months after their ARF diagnosis which is called a concurrent diagnosis.
For Māori and Pasifika people diagnosed with RHD, the majority (71%) were not notified as having a previous diagnosis of ARF. People may not have had a previous diagnosis of ARF for a number of reasons, these include if people did not visit the doctor when sick or the doctor thought the person was more likely to have a different illness. Other reasons include that the ARF diagnosis may not have been notified to NSW Health as it occurred before ARF was notifiable or the clinician did not send through a notification.
Data for this report was extracted from the Notifiable Conditions Records for Epidemiology and Surveillance, NSW Ministry of Health on 17 September 2025. Population data including population by LHD, population by Māori and Pasifika status and NSW population were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics via the Secure Analytics for Population Health Research and Intelligence System (SAPHaRI).
