What activities were being carried out at the time of the fall?

Only 31% (41,400) of the hospitalisations records in scope for this report included information on the type of activity that was being undertaken at the time of the fall; 69% (91,500) of cases were coded with Unspecified activity. This should be taken into account when interpreting the data in this section.

In 2019–20, among Australians aged 65 and over who were hospitalised due to a fall and where an activity was recorded in the data source, Resting, sleeping, eating, or engaging in other vital activities was the most commonly reported activity being undertaken at the time of the fall (21,100; 51% of the 41,400 cases) (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Hospitalised falls by activity and sex, 65 years and over, 2019–20

Stacked column graph showing Resting, sleeping, eating or other vital activities was the most reported category of activity being undertaken across all 5-year age groups at the time of a fall resulting in hospitalisation. The second most reported activity was While engaged in other types of work.

For more detailed data, see Data tables A22–23.