Who is injured?
In 2021-22, females constituted 54% of injury cases hospitalised due to contact with animals. Nearly 3 out of 5 cases were adults aged between 25 and 64 years, and under 13% were children aged under 15 years. The highest crude rate was among females aged 15-24 at 123 per 100,000 (Table 1).
| Age group (b) | Cases: Male | Cases: Female | Cases: Persons (e) | Crude rate(a) Male | Crude rate(a) Female | Crude rate(a) Persons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | 568 | 425 | 993 | 73 | 58 | 66 |
| 5–14 | 1,062 | 1,116 | 2,178 | 64 | 71 | 67 |
| 15–24 | 1,250 | 1,864 | 3,115 | 77 | 123 | 99 |
| 25–44 | 3,122 | 3,696 | 6,818 | 86 | 101 | 94 |
45–64 | 3,052 | 3,840 | 6,892 | 99 | 120 | 110 |
65+ | 1,676 | 1,707 | 3,383 | 82 | 73 | 77 |
| Total | 10,730 | 12,648 | 23,379 | 83.6 | 97.1 | 90.4 |
Notes:
(a) Crude rate is per 100,000 persons
(b) Records where age is missing are excluded from this table
(c) Records where remoteness is missing are excluded from this table
(d) Remoteness is based on the remoteness of usual place of residence for the patient
(e) Persons include records where sex is missing, intersex or indeterminate. Therefore, sum of male and female components may not equal the persons count.
(f) Total is the grand total. This includes records where age or remoteness are missing. Therefore, the sum of the age group components or sum of the remoteness components may not equal the total.
Source: National Hospital Morbidity Database
Over the 10 years described in this report, the largest increases in numbers of injury hospitalisations occurred for cases aged 15+, with generally more females than males hospitalised. The gender gap was widest for 15–64-year-olds and narrowest for people aged 65+. The largest increase in numbers of hospitalisations occurred between 2019-20 and 2020-21 (Figure 4, Figure 3).
Crude rates of injury hospitalisation generally increased over the decade for most age groups. The gender gap was widest for 15–24-year-olds and widening over time, with females (122.7 per 100,000) in this age group hospitalised at nearly 1 and a half times the rate of corresponding males (77.3 per 100,000) by 2021-22. At the extremes of age (0-4 and 65+ year olds) the gender preponderance was flipped, with a higher rate of hospitalisation among males (Figure 4).
Injury hospitalisations by categories of animals are described further in the ‘Type of animals’ section of this report.
Figure 4: Increases in numbers and crude rates of injury hospitalisations related to contact with animals varied by age group and gender across Australia, 2012-22
Source: National Hospital Morbidity Database
For more information please refer to supplementary data table 2.