Injuries
Key points
- In 2022, injuries accounted for 13% (40,037 DALY) of total burden for First Nations people, 22% (35,085 YLL) of fatal burden and 3.1% (4,951 YLD) of non-fatal burden.
- In 2022, injuries was the second leading cause of total burden among First Nations people, the leading cause of fatal burden and the ninth leading cause of non-fatal burden.
- The leading causes of injury burden for First Nations people were suicide & self-inflicted injuries (36%), poisoning (18%), road traffic injuries (RTI) of motor vehicle occupants (12%) and homicide & violence (8.0%).
- Most injury burden (88%) was due to early death (fatal burden).
- A larger proportion of total burden (DALY) due to injuries was experienced by First Nations males (69%) than by First Nations females (31%).
- Between 2011 and 2022, the age-standardised rate of total burden due to injuries for First Nations people remained relatively stable overall (43 DALY per 1,000 people).
- In 2022, the age-standardised rate of burden due to injuries for First Nations people was 2.6 times the rate for non-Indigenous Australians.
The injuries disease group includes all injuries incurred from trauma. This includes falls, burns, homicide and violence, poisoning (intentional and accidental), road traffic injuries (RTI), suicide and self-inflicted injuries, and drowning. It does not include injuries that result from other health conditions – for example, limb amputations due to diabetes.
The list of injuries and ICD-10 codes used to identify external causes can be found in the Australian Burden of Disease Study: methods and supplementary material 2018.
Non-fatal injuries are restricted to those that are admitted to a hospital and those that present to an emergency department (ED). Injuries presenting only to a general practitioner or allied health professional and those for which no medical care is sought are excluded. It is assumed that they do not incur sufficient health loss to be included in the FNBDS.
How much burden do injuries contribute?
Overall, injuries was the second leading cause of total burden among First Nations people, the leading cause of fatal burden and the ninth leading cause of non-fatal burden in 2022.
In 2022, injuries accounted for 13% (40,037 DALY) of total burden among First Nations people, 22% (35,085 YLL) of fatal burden and 3.1% (4,951 YLD) of non-fatal burden.
The leading causes of injury burden for First Nations people were suicide & self-inflicted injuries (36%), poisoning (18%), road traffic injuries (RTI) of motor vehicle occupants (12%) and homicide & violence (8.0%) (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Injury total burden (DALY), contribution of external causes of injury, First Nations people, 2022
RTI road traffic injuries
Notes
- Percentage labels are not shown for disease groups contributing less than 4.5% of burden.
- The residual cause ‘All other external causes of injury’ includes all causes included in injuries (external cause) not specifically listed in the figure. See the Australian Burden of Disease Study: methods and supplementary material 2018 for a full list of ICD-10 codes.
Source: AIHW First Nations Burden of Disease Database
To explore the contribution of total, non-fatal and fatal burden for each disease group, see the interactive data visualisation: Dashboard 1: Burden of disease in Australia.
Most of the burden is fatal
Most injury burden (88%) was due to early death (fatal burden) (figure 2a). The main causes of fatal injury burden for First Nations people were suicide & self-inflicted injuries (41% of the fatal injury burden), poisoning (20%) and RTI of motor vehicle occupants (12%).
The remaining burden (12%) was due to living with the effects of injuries (non-fatal burden) (figure 2a). Falls (32% of the non-fatal injury burden), homicide & violence (24%) and other unintentional injuries (14%) were the leading causes of non-fatal injury burden for First Nations people.
Figure 2a: Injury burden (DALY), by external causes of injury and burden type, First Nations people, 2022
RTI road traffic injuries.
Source: AIHW First Nations Burden of Disease Database
How does burden differ by sex?
There were differences in burden due to injuries between males and females, with DALY, YLD and YLL rates higher among First Nations males than females (Table 1).
Sex | DALY | YLD | YLL |
|---|---|---|---|
Males | 53.9 | 5.9 | 48.0 |
Females | 24.5 | 3.8 | 20.6 |
Persons | 39.2 | 4.9 | 34.4 |
Source: AIHW First Nations Burden of Disease Database
Overall, a larger proportion of total burden (DALY) due to injuries was experienced by First Nations males (69%) than by First Nations females (31%) (Figure 2b). First Nations males experienced a higher proportion of injury burden than First Nations females across all causes, except for the residual group ‘all other external causes of injury’ (70% females). The largest differences were for RTI of pedal cyclists (93% of burden experienced by males), RTI of motorcyclists (93%), other land transport injuries (73%), and suicide & self-inflicted injuries (72%).
Figure 2b: Injury burden (DALY), by external causes of injury and sex, First Nations people, 2022
RTI road traffic injuries.
Source: AIHW First Nations Burden of Disease Database
How does burden differ by age?
The number of DALY and age-specific DALY rates due to injuries were highest among those aged 15–44. The number of DALY was lowest for those aged 65–74, and 75 and over, while the DALY rate was lowest for those aged 5–14. A similar pattern was evident for age-specific YLL rates, while age-specific rates for YLD were highest for those aged 75 and over and lowest for those aged under 5 (Table 2).
Age group | Number of DALY | DALY rate | YLD rate | YLL rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Under 5 | 2,204 | 20.4 | 1.7 | 18.7 |
5–14 | 1,798 | 7.9 | 2.0 | 5.9 |
15–24 | 9,362 | 49.8 | 5.5 | 44.3 |
25–44 | 17,712 | 67.7 | 6.9 | 60.8 |
45–64 | 7,433 | 41.8 | 6.2 | 35.7 |
65–74 | 982 | 24.0 | 5.6 | 18.4 |
75 and over | 547 | 33.3 | 9.0 | 24.3 |
Total | 40,037 | 39.2 | 4.9 | 34.4 |
Source: AIHW First Nations Burden of Disease Database
The contribution of individual causes to injury burden varied across the life course (Figure 3):
- For First Nations infants and children aged under 5, other unintentional injuries (47%) was the leading cause of injury burden, followed by drowning (18%).
- For First Nations children aged 5–14, RTI of motor vehicle occupants and suicide & self-inflicted injuries were the 2 leading causes of injury burden (accounting for 22% and 18%, respectively).
- Suicide & self-inflicted injuries accounted for half (50%) of injury burden among First Nations people aged 15–24.
- For adults aged 25–64, suicide & self-inflicted injuries and poisoning were the 2 leading causes of injury burden, together accounting for over half of the injury burden in this age group (37% and 25% respectively).
- For those aged 65 and over, falls (57%) were the leading cause of injury burden.
Figure 3: Injury total burden (DALY), contribution of external causes of injury, First Nations people, 2022
RTI road traffic injuries
Notes
- The residual cause ‘All other external causes of injury’ includes all causes included in injuries (external cause) not specifically listed in the figure. See the Australian Burden of Disease Study: methods and supplementary material 2018 for a full list of ICD-10 codes.
- Data for the 75 and over age group should be treated with caution, due to underlying small numbers.
Source: AIHW First Nations Burden of Disease Database
To explore the contribution of fatal and non-fatal burden to the leading causes of the top 5 disease groups see the interactive data visualisation: Dashboard 7: Top disease groups across the stages of life.
How has the burden changed over time?
Between 2011 and 2022, the age-standardised rate of total burden due to injuries for First Nations people remained relatively stable overall (43 DALY per 1,000 people) (Figure 4).
Rates of non-fatal burden due to injuries increased (from 4.3 to 5.6 YLD per 1,000; increase of 30%), whereas rates of fatal burden decreased slightly (from 39 to 37 YLL per 1,000; decrease of 3.1%).
Most causes of injury showed a decrease in fatal burden between 2011 and 2022, including for homicide & violence and RTI of motor vehicle injuries (decreases of 2.2 and 2.0 YLL per 1,000 people, respectively; equivalent to decreases of 53% and 33%, respectively).
Figure 4: Change between 2011 and 2022 in the age-standardised total (DALY), fatal (YLL), and non-fatal (YLD) burden rate (per 1,000 people), injuries, First Nations people
Source: AIHW First Nations Burden of Disease Database
For non-Indigenous people, the age-standardised rate of total burden due to injuries declined slightly between 2011 and 2022 (5.9%, from 17 to 16 DALY per 1,000 people). Similar small declines were evident in the age-standardised non-fatal (7.9%, from 2.8 to 2.6 YLD per 1,000 people) and fatal (5.5%, from 15 to 14 YLL per 1,000 people) burden rates over the same period (See Figure 7 in Gap in disease burden section).
To explore the changes over time in the DALY, YLD, and YLL for First Nations people in each disease group, see the interactive data visualisation: Dashboard 3: Comparisons over time.
Comparisons with non-Indigenous Australians
In 2022, the age-standardised rate of burden due to injuries for First Nations people was 2.6 times the rate for non-Indigenous Australians (age-standardised rates of 42.9 and 16.3 DALY per 1,000 people, respectively).
The largest absolute differences in DALY rates between First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians were observed for suicide & self-inflicted injuries (rate difference of 9.2 DALY per 1,000 people), poisoning (rate difference of 6.0 DALY per 1,000) and RTI of motor vehicle occupants (rate difference of 3.1 DALY per 1,000) (Figure 5).
The largest relative differences in DALY rates between First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians (based on age-standardised rate ratios) were observed for homicide & violence (rate ratio of 5.9), RTI of pedestrians (5.2), RTI of motor vehicle occupants (3.2) and poisoning (3.2).
Figure 5: Injury age-standardised total burden rates (DALY per 1,000 people) and rate ratios, First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians, 2022
RTI road traffic injuries.
Source: AIHW First Nations Burden of Disease Database
To explore the gap in disease burden between First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians, see the interactive data visualisation: Dashboards 6a and 6b: Gap in health outcomes.