Drowning and other injuries related to aquatic activities at ages 55 years and older in Australia
A little over one-quarter of all drowning deaths in Australia and one eighth of hospitalised non-fatal drowning cases occur at ages 55 years and older. This report describes the occurrence of such cases during several years (nine for deaths and five for hospitalised cases). It also describes hospitalised non-drowning injuries in relation to aquatic activities and places.
Spinal cord injury, 1999-2005
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a very debilitating injury. During the six year period from 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2005 there were 19,912 hospital separations in Australia which involved some form of spinal cord injury. Transport-related cases accounted for over 47% of all incident cases, while fall-related injury accounted for a further 33%. Over half (54%) of separations involved readmissions related to complications of spinal cord injuries sustained at an earlier time. The introduction of person-based linkage would allow much more complete and reliable estimation of the incidence of SCI in the community and the burden of SCI on the hospital sector and community.
Hospitalisations due to falls by older people, Australia 2005-06
This report is the second in a series of biennial reports on hospitalisations due to falls by older people in Australia. The report focuses on hospitalised falls occurring in the financial year 2005-06 and examines trends in fall-related hospitalisations over the period 1999-2006. The number of fall events resulting in hospitalisation due to injury for older Australians remains high and the rate of fall-related injury incidents is particularly high for the oldest group within this population. As in the previous report, older females accounted for most of the hospitalised fall injury cases and a third of cases had injuries to the hip and thigh. Half of all fall injury cases for people aged 65 years and older occurred in the home. Falls in residential institutions were also common. Age-standardised rates of hospitalised fall-related injury separations have increased over the seven year study period to June 2006, despite a decrease in the rate for femur fractures due to falls. The estimated total length of stay per fall injury case has also increased over the period 1999-2006, apparently influenced by increases in the number of bed-days used by episodes of fall-related follow-up care.
Eye-related injuries in Australia
Reducing preventable vision loss has recently been identified as a priority by Australian governments and non-government organisations. Eye injuries in Australia is the third in a series of national reports providing an overview of eye health in Australia. This report presents eye injuries from the perspectives of hospitalisations, general practice consultations, emergency department attendances, workers' compensation claims, and also as reported in national surveys. This report is an invaluable resource for policy-makers, health professionals, advocacy groups and others interested in knowing more about eye injuries in Australia.
Spinal cord injury, Australia, 2006-07
Severe spinal cord injury (SCI) is a very debilitating and costly injury. This report presents information from the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Register (ASCIR) on 348 newly incident cases from trauma and disease in 2006-07. During the year, 272 new cases of SCI from traumatic causes were registered in Australia, an age-adjusted incidence rate of 14.9 cases per million population. The most common clinical outcome of SCI from traumatic causes was incomplete tetraplegia (98 cases). Transport related injuries (52%) and falls (29%) accounted for over three-quarters of the 271 cases of traumatic SCI (one case under the age of 15 years was excluded from these analyses). Cases also occurred during sport (n = 21) and working for income, including travel to and from work (n = 37). Falling was the most common type of event leading to traumatic SCI at older ages. The ASCIR is a collaborative activity of the AIHW National Injury Surveillance Unit and all of the specialist spinal units in Australia.
Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia, 2004-05
This report presents national statistics on injuries that resulted in admission to hospitals in Australia. It includes cases discharged during the year to 30 June 2005. Unintentional falls, transport-related injury, intentional self-harm and assault are common causes of hospitalised injury in the Australian community. Injuries due to these and other causes are described, in terms of case numbers and rates, by age and sex, place of usual residence, length of stay in hospital and other characteristics. Injuries sustained while working for income or while engaged in sporting activities are also described. The report will be relevant to anyone interested in gaining an insight into patterns of injury morbidity and the burden it imposes on the Australian community.
Injury of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples due to transport, 2001-02 to 2005-06
This report looks at the death and serious injury of Indigenous persons in Australia due to transport accidents in the five-year period 2001-02 to 2005-06. It focuses on the four jurisdictions of the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland and examines variables such as mode of transport, gender, age group and remoteness from an urban centre.
Injury as a chronic health issue in Australia
This Briefing provides an overview of injury as a chronic health issue in Australia. The report highlights the long-term health consequences following severe injury and the effects on individual's physical and psychosocial wellbeing. Types of injuries covered in the Briefing include spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, severe burns as well as injury comorbidities such as fractures and self-harm.
Hospital separations due to traumatic brain injury, Australia 2004-05
This report describes hospitalisations for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Australia for the period 2004-2005. TBI, as distinct from head injury, is characterised by an external impact to the head that results in damage to the brain. TBI is defined in this report by the presence in hospital separation records of at least one ICD-10-AM code in the S06 intracranial injury range occurring in at least one of fifty available diagnosis fields. The 22,710 records meeting this criterion were analysed in three groups, according to the prominence of TBI in the record. Analysis and description of combinations of injury types resulting in TBI admissions to a hospital are reported, including discussion of severity of injury, and cost and burden on the systems for acute care and rehabilitation. About 980 (4.3% of cases) deaths in hospital were reported. Direct costs for hospital care for TBI separations were estimated to be more than $184 million.
Serious injury due to transport accidents involving a railway train, Australia, 2001-02 to 2005-06
This report presents national statistics on serious injury due to transport accidents involving a railway train that resulted in admission to hospital in Australia during the five-year period 2001-02 to 2005-06. It examines variables such as mode of transport, gender and age group. It also focuses on level crossing accidents.
Serious injury due to land transport accidents, Australia, 2005-06
This report presents national statistics on serious injury due to land transport accidents that resulted in admission to hospital in Australia during the one-year period 2005-06. It focuses on road vehicle traffic crashes in particular, and examines variables such as mode of transport, gender, age group and remoteness from an urban centre.
Serious injury due to transport accidents, Australia, 2005-06
This report presents national statistics on serious injury due to transport accidents that resulted in admission to hospital in Australia during the one-year period 2005-06. It examines variables such as mode of transport, gender and age group.
Hospitalised farm injury among children and young people, Australia 2000-01 to 2004-05
Over the five-year period 2000-01 to 2004-05, a total of at least 3,926 children and young people were hospitalised as the result of injuries sustained on farms. This briefing focuses on these cases.
Venomous bites and stings in Australia to 2005
This report describes the bites and stings due to contact with venomous animals and plants that resulted in a separation from an Australian hospital in the period 1st July 2002 to 30th June 2005. Analyses of bite and sting cases over time (1999-05) are also presented.Hospitalised bites and stings were most frequently attributed to spiders, bees and wasps while snakebites were a less frequent cause of hospitalisation. Higher rates of serious bites and stings were generally observed for males and for younger people. Little change in the rate of hospitalised bites and stings was noted over time. This report demonstrates that changes made to the ICD-10-AM classification system from 1st July 2002 have greatly improved the specificity and utility of hospitalised bite and sting data.
Deaths and hospitalisations due to drowning, Australia 1999-00 to 2003-04
This report presents national statistics on deaths and hospitalisations due to drowning for the five-year period 1999-00 to 2003-04. Drowning occurs in a number of settings and contexts: in bodies of natural water, in swimming pools and bathtubs, in association with watercraft and as the result of intentional self-harm. Drownings resulting in death and hospitalisation are described in relation to these in terms of case numbers and rates, by age and sex, remoteness of usual residence, length of stay in hospital, and other characteristics. This report will be relevant to anyone interested in gaining an insight into patterns of fatal and non-fatal drowning and the burden they impose on the Australian community.
Spinal cord injury, Australia, 2005-06
Severe spinal cord injury (SCI) is a very debilitating injury. This report presents information from the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Register (ASCIR) on 374 newly incident cases from trauma and disease in the year 2005-06. During the year, 284 new cases of SCI from traumatic causes were registered in Australia, an age-adjusted incidence rate of 15.7 cases per million population. The most common clinical outcome of SCI was incomplete tetraplegia (93 cases). Transport related injuries (46%) and falls (33%) accounted for over three-quarters of the 284 cases of traumatic SCI. Cases also occurred during sport (n=35) and working for income, including travel to and from work (n=43). Falling was the most common type of event leading to traumatic SCI at older ages. The ASCIR is a collaborative activity of the AIHW National Injury Surveillance Unit and all of the specialist spinal units in Australia.
Use of multiple causes of death data for identifying and reporting injury mortality
Prior to 1997, Australian mortality data were assigned a single Underlying cause of death (UCoD). This took the form of a code indicating what had caused an injury to occur. From 1997 onward, up to 13, and later up to 20, Multiple causes of death (MCoDs) could be allocated to any death record. These MCoDs represent nearly all of the information about cause of death that appeared on the death certificate. Of particular interest for injury surveillance was the fact that these Multiple causes of death could identify not only the external cause of an injury, but could also provide information about the nature of the injury.
Serious injury due to land transport accidents, Australia 2003-04
This report presents national statistics on serious injury due to transport accidents involving a railway train that resulted in admission to hospital in Australia during the five-year period 1999-00 to 2003-04. It examines variables such as mode of transport, gender and age group. It also focuses on level crossing accidents.
Serious injury due to transport accidents involving a railway train, Australia 1999-00 to 2003-04
This report presents national statistics on serious injury due to transport accidents involving a railway train that resulted in admission to hospital in Australia during the five-year period 1999-00 to 2003-04. It examines variables such as mode of transport, gender and age group. It also focuses on level crossing accidents.
Serious injury due to transport accidents, Australia 2003-04
This report presents national statistics on serious injury due to transport accidents that resulted in admission to hospital in Australia during the one-year period 2003-04. It examines variables such as mode of transport, gender and age group.
Hospitalised football injuries, 2004-05
This briefing provides an overview of football-related hospitalisations during 2004-05. Injuries sustained while playing football accounted for 31% (n=14,147) of all sports and leisure-related hospitalisations during this period. Australian football accounted for 30%, soccer for 24%, and rugby for 21% of all football-related hospitalisations. Over 90% of those hospitalised were aged 34 years or younger while 93% were males. Knee, lower leg and head were the most common regions injured, accounting for 48% of all hospitalisations. Fractures were by far the most common type of injury, accounting for 56% of all hospital admissions. The mean number of bed days for all hospitalisations due to football-related injury was 1.85 days. The estimated direct cost of football-related hospitalisations was close to $44 million.
Ladder-related fall injuries
Falls from ladders contribute a substantial number of emergency department presentations and admissions to Australian hospitals each year. This report examines the nature of hospitalised injuries due to falls from ladders for the 2004-05 financial year.
Hospitalisation due to falls in older people, Australia 2003-04
This report examines Australian hospital data pertaining to fall injuries in people aged 65 and older in 2003-04. The number of fall events resulting in hospitalisation due to injury for older Australians remains high and the rate of fall-related injury incidents is particularly high for the oldest group within this population. Women are at greatest risk of fall-related injury. Fall incidents most commonly result in a fracture and hip fractures are particularly frequent. This report also highlights that a substantial proportion of fall-related injuries are injuries to the head, which may require more specifically-targeted prevention interventions. Multiple hospital separations due to a single fall incident substantially add to the burden of disease for older Australians. Separations principally involving follow-up care, rehabilitation and other fall-related conditions contributed 136% more bed-days than those occupied due to initial episodes due to fall injury incidents and brought the total number of fall-related hospital bed-days for people aged 65 and older in 2003-04 to over 1.2 million. The estimated total cost for fall-related acute care in Australian hospitals for people aged 65 and older in 2003-04 was $566.0 million. This represents a substantial proportion of the burden of disease and health expenditure for this population and suggests that the lifetime cost of falls in older people may be substantially higher than has been previously calculated.
The burden of disease and injury in Australia 2003
'The burden of disease and injury in Australia 2003' provides a comprehensive assessment of the health status of Australians. The report measures mortality, disability, impairment, illness and injury arising from 176 diseases, injuries and risk factors using a common metric, the disability-adjusted life year or DALY, and methods developed by the Global Burden of Disease Study. Burden of disease analysis gives a unique perspective on health. Fatal and non-fatal outcomes are integrated, but can be examined separately as well. This report provides detailed estimates of the burden of mortality and disability for each disease and injury category by sex and age. It also assesses the burden attributable to each of 14 major risk factors, and inequalities in the disease burden associated with socioeconomic disadvantage.
Injury of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people due to transport, 1999-00 to 2003-04
This report looks at the death and serious injury of Indigenous persons in Australia due to transport accidents in the five-year period 1999-00 to 2003-04. It focuses on the four jurisdictions of the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland and examines variables such as mode of transport, gender, age group and remoteness from an urban centre. DOTARS Report Number: 50250.