For more detail, see Data tables A1–3 and D1–3.
There are many ways that the severity, or seriousness, of an injury can be measured. Using available data, three measures of the severity of hospitalised injuries are:
- number of days in hospital
- time in an intensive care unit (ICU)
- time on a ventilator.
The average number of days in hospital for thermal injuries was longer than the average for all injuries, and the percentage of thermal cases that included time in an ICU and/or involved continuous ventilatory support were higher than for hospitalised injuries.
Table 3: Severity of thermal injury hospitalisations, 2019–20
|
Thermal injuries
|
All injuries
|
Average number of days in hospital
|
5.2
|
4.5
|
% of cases with time in an ICU
|
3.4
|
2.4
|
% of cases involving continuous ventilatory support
|
2.1
|
1.4
|
Note: Average number of days in hospital (length of stay) includes admissions that are transfers from 1 hospital to another or transfers from 1 admitted care type to another within the same hospital, except where care involves rehabilitation procedures.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
For more detail, see Data tables A12–13.
In 2019–20, among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:
- there were 569 hospitalisations (Table 4) and 11 deaths due to thermal causes
- males were 1.4 times as likely as females to be hospitalised due to thermal causes (age-standardised)
- thermal injury hospitalisation rates were highest in the 0–4 age group (Figure 3).
Table 4: Number and rate of thermal injury hospitalisations by sex, Indigenous Australians, 2019–20
|
Males
|
Females
|
Persons
|
Number
|
344
|
225
|
569
|
Rate (per 100,000)
|
81
|
53
|
67
|
Note: Rates are crude per 100,000 population.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
In 2019–20, Indigenous Australians were 2.9 times as likely as non-Indigenous Australians to be hospitalised due to a thermal injury (Table 4). Deaths are not presented here due to the small number.
Table 5: Age-standardised rates (per 100,000) of thermal injury hospitalisations by Indigenous status and sex, 2019–20
|
Males
|
Females
|
Persons
|
Indigenous Australians
|
77
|
54
|
65
|
Non-Indigenous Australians
|
29
|
16
|
22
|
Notes
- Rates are age-standardised to the 2001 Australian population (per 100,000).
- ‘Non-Indigenous Australians’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
The age-specific rate of injury hospitalisations due to thermal causes was highest among the 0–4 age group for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Figure 4).