Australian hospitals treated 404,000 Australians for injury and
poisoning during 1998-99, according to a report released today by
the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Falls were the most common cause of injury, hospitalising 52,000
males and 63,000 females during the year.
Hospital Separations Due to Injury and Poisoning, Australia
1998-99 shows that injuries leading to hospitalisation most
often occur at home.
Females were more likely to be injured in and around the home
than males. Males, however, had almost three times the number of
injuries occurring in sports or athletics areas than their female
counterparts, and more than eight times the number of injuries at
industrial and construction areas.
Report co-author Dr Raymond Cripps, from the AIHW's National
Injury Surveillance Unit at Flinders University, said that age also
played a part in where injuries occurred.
'Children and the elderly are more likely to be injured in the
home, while teenagers aged 15-19 years are more likely to be
injured in sports and athletic environments,' Dr Cripps said.
'A higher proportion of adults aged 20-64 are injured at
industrial and construction areas.'
The report shows that shoulder and upper limb injuries were the
injuries most commonly diagnosed and treated in both males and
females.
Children aged 0-4 years, teenagers aged 15-19 years and adults
aged over 80 years had the highest head injury rates.
'Males are more than twice as likely as females to be
hospitalised with head injuries, across all age groups', Dr Cripps
said.
'Wrist and hand injuries were also very common, but the rates
were much lower than those for head injuries.'
Other findings of the report include:
- 33% of patients admitted for injury stayed in hospital for
three days or more.
- The young (0-14 years) and the elderly (65 years and older) are
the groups most at risk of hospitalisation for fall-related
injuries-accounting for about 26,000 and 52,000 hospital admissions
respectively.
- Hospitalisations due to intentional self-harm made up about 5%
of all injury and poisoning admissions.
Canberra, 29 July 2002
Further information: Dr Raymond Cripps, AIHW
National Injury Surveillance Unit, tel. 08 8374 0970
For media copies of the report: Publications Officer,
tel. 02 6244 1032
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for details.