Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia 2009-10
This report is the eighth in a series on hospitalisations due to injury and poisoning in Australia, and covers the financial year 2009-10. A total of 421,065 injury cases required hospitalisation during the 12 months (242,478 males and 178,586 females). Overall rates of injury were higher among people aged 65 and over, and lower in children aged 0-14. The leading causes of hospitalised injury were unintentional falls (38% of cases), followed by transport accidents (13%).
People with dementia in hospitals in New South Wales 2006-07
This report examines the experiences of the 252,700 people aged 50 and over who stayed for at least one night in a New South Wales public hospital in 2006-07. Slightly more than 8% of patients (20,800 people) were identified as having dementia. Even allowing for age and sex differences, people with dementia had much higher hospitalisation rates than those without dementia: 26% compared with 12%. They also tended to stay longer in hospital and were more likely to enter or return to residential care on discharge from hospital, or to die in hospital.
Deriving key patient variables: a technical paper for the Hospital Dementia Services Project
This report describes the methods used for the Hospital Dementia Services Project to derive dementia status, complete hospital stays and post-hospital destination using New South Wales hospital data for 2006-07. Comparisons of estimates using these key variables show that the method used to derive the variables can substantially affect analytical results on use of hospitals. This report demonstrates the importance of using analytical data and methods that match the particular policy or research question being asked.
Northern Territory Emergency Response Child Health Check Initiative: follow-up services for oral and ear health: final report, 2007-2012
This is the final report for dental, audiology, and ear, nose and throat (ENT) services funded by the Northern Territory Emergency Response Child Health Check Initiative Closing the Gap program.More than 17,000 dental and 9,000 audiology services were provided between August 2007 and June 2012, and about 6,000 ENT services between August 2007 and December 2010. The majority of children who received a referral at their Child Health Check received the referred service, with follow-up rates of 94% for dental referrals, nearly 100% for audiology referrals and 97% for ENT referrals.
Changes in life expectancy and disability in Australia 1998 to 2009
This report shows that older Australians are living longer and, on average, getting more years of life without severe or profound limitation in basic daily activities. On the other hand, the ageing of the Australian population and increasing longevity are leading to a greater number of older people with disability and severe or profound activity limitation.
Trends in hospitalised childhood injury in Australia 1999-07
This report provides summary data on trends in hospitalised childhood injury for 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2007. Information is provided for three age groups (0-4, 5-9 and 10-14 year-olds) for each year. Falls and other unintentional injuries were the most frequent causes of hospitalised injury in each age group.
Indigenous young people in the juvenile justice system
Although only about 5% of young Australians are Indigenous, almost 2 in 5 (39%) of those under juvenile justice supervision on an average day in 2010-11 were Indigenous. There were 2,820 Indigenous young people under supervision on an average day and 5,195 during the year. Indigenous young people first entered supervision at younger ages than non-Indigenous young people, on average, and spent longer under supervision during the year.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification in community services data collections: an updated data quality report
This report examines the identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients in a number of Australian Institute of Health and Welfare community services data collections, by analysing where Indigenous status is missing/not stated. It makes a number of recommendations, including that data collection manuals and training materials reflect the National best practice guidelines for collecting Indigenous status in health data sets. Where necessary, jurisdictions should consider modifying client forms and client information management systems to ensure consistency with these guidelines.
Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2010-11: report on the National Minimum Data Set
Around 150,500 closed treatment episodes for alcohol and other drug use were provided in Australia in 2010-11 - almost 5,000 more than in 2009-10. For almost half of these episodes, the principal drug of concern was alcohol. Cannabis was the second most common principal drug of concern. Counselling was the most common type of treatment, followed by withdrawal management.
Children and young people at risk of social exclusion: links between homelessness, child protection and juvenile justice
Following the release of a study exploring the feasibility of linking three community-sector data collections, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was funded to link available child protection, juvenile justice and Supported Accommodation Assistance Program data. Analysis of the linked data shows that children and young people who are involved in one of these three sectors are more likely to be involved in another of the sectors than the general population. While the results are limited by data availability, the project highlights the valuable information that can be gained by data linkage.
Linking SAAP, child protection and juvenile justice data: technical report
Following the release of a study exploring the feasibility of linking three community-sector data collections, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was funded to link child protection, juvenile justice and Supported Accommodation Assistance Program data. This report describes the process used to link these collections. The analysis of the linked data is in a companion report, Children and young people at risk of social exclusion: links between homelessness, child protection and juvenile justice.
Medications prescribed for people with obstructive airways disease: antibiotics and inhaled corticosteroids
Appropriate use of medications is important in maximising health benefits for patients, minimising the negative effects of medications, and controlling health costs. This report focuses on the appropriate use of certain medications for the management of obstructive airways disease, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Data in this report suggest that antibiotics are commonly used among patients with asthma and COPD, and that supply patterns for inhaled corticosteroids are often not consistent with treatment guidelines for the management of these conditions.
AIHW Access no. 34, 2012
Access is a newsletter published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, profiling the Institute's work and its people.
Food for thought: what do short questions on food habits tell us about dietary intakes?
Short questions on food habits, such as 'How many serves of fruit do you usually eat each day?' are often used to assess dietary behaviours. This report presents analysis of the 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey to assess how well responses to short questions compare with more comprehensive tools, such as keeping a diary of all food eaten over two 24-hour periods. Results show that short questions may be a reasonable proxy for type of milk usually consumed and a reasonable approximation of fruit and vegetable intake, but are of limited value for predicting sodium or iodine intakes.
Annual report 2011-12
This annual report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) complies with the requirements of the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997. The AIHW's activities are guided by legislative and government requirements, as well as its strategic directions, work plan and contractual obligations. This annual report describes these activities with reference to these requirements for the 2011-12 year. The report highlights significant outputs during the year that help to provide Australians with quality, nationally-consistent health and welfare information. It also includes a short feature to celebrate the AIHW's 25th year of operation.
A picture of Australia's children 2012
This report provides the latest information on how Australia is faring according to key indicators of child health, development, and wellbeing. Deaths rates for infants and children have declined since 1986, rates of risky drinking and smoking among children aged 12-14 are down, and most children achieve above the minimum standards for reading and numeracy. But there is still room for improvement. Almost one-quarter of children are developmentally vulnerable at school entry, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children in socioeconomic disadvantaged areas are likely to fare worse across a broad range of indicators.
Assisted reproductive technology in Australia and New Zealand 2010
In 2010, there were 61,774 assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment cycles performed in Australia and New Zealand. Of these, 23.9% resulted in a clinical pregnancy and 18.1% in a live delivery (the birth of at least one liveborn baby). There were 12,056 liveborn babies following ART treatments in 2010.
Families and their oral health
This report provides information on the oral health and oral health impacts experienced by Australian children using data from the 2010 National Dental Telephone Interview Survey. It seeks to determine if this experience is closely related to the oral health of their parents. Additionally, the report explores the role family circumstances play in children's experience of oral health.
Chronic conditions and oral health
This report provides information on the impact of oral conditions on people with a chronic condition including asthma, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, stroke, kidney disease, high blood pressure and depression.
Palliative care services in Australia
Palliative care services in Australia is the first in a planned series of annual reports providing a detailed picture of the national response to the palliative care needs of Australians. Details from a range of data sources for 2009-10, and where available 2010-11, are presented, as are changes over time. There were almost 56,000 palliative care separations reported in public and private hospitals in 2009-10. Almost $3 million in Medicare Benefits Schedule payments was paid for palliative medicine specialist services in 2010-11.
Girls and young women in the juvenile justice system
In 2010-11, there were 1,190 young women under juvenile justice supervision in Australia on an average day and 2,620 during the year. Most (93%) young women were supervised in the community, with the remainder in detention. Young women spent around 2 weeks less than young men under supervision, on average, during 2010-11 (171 days compared with 186), which was mainly due to less time spent in detention (31 days compared with 68). Young women were much less likely than their male counterparts to be involved in all elements of the juvenile justice system.
BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2009-2010
BreastScreen Australia aims to reduce illness and death resulting from breast cancer through organised screening of women. This report is the latest in an annual series that presents national statistics monitoring the program against performance indicators.More than 1.3 million women in the target age group of 50-69 were screened in 2009-2010, a participation rate of 55%. Breast cancer mortality is at a historic low, at 43 deaths per 100,000 women.
Australian hospital statistics 2011-12: elective surgery waiting times
In 2011-12:- About 662,000 patients were admitted to Australian public hospitals from elective surgery waiting lists - 50% of patients were admitted for their surgery within 36 days of being placed on the waiting list and 90% were admitted within 251 days.
Mental health services in brief 2012
Mental health services in Australia - in brief 2012 provides an overview of the national response to the mental health needs of Australians. It includes information on mental health service provision, available mental health resources and the changes that have occurred in these over time. The publication compliments the more comprehensive data that is available online at Mental health services in Australia http://mhsa.aihw.gov.au.
Breast cancer in Australia: an overview
Data in this report provide a comprehensive picture of breast cancer in Australia including how breast cancer rates differ by geographical area, socioeconomic status, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status and country of birth.