Injury among women 2022–23

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The top 3 leading causes of injury hospitalisation for women in 2022–23 were (Figure 11):

The top 3 leading causes of injury death for women in 2022–23 were (Figure 12):

Figure 11: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000) of injury hospitalisations among women by external cause, Australia, 2022–23

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

Notes:

1. Only includes records where patient was aged 19 and over and patient’s sex recorded as female.
2. Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
3. Rates where underlying numerator count is under 20 are excluded from display.
4. Counts under 5 are excluded from display.
5. Records where external cause of injury was not reported are excluded from display.

Figure 12: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000) of injury deaths among women by external cause, Australia, 2022–23

Sources: AIHW National Mortality Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

Notes:

1. Only includes records where patient was aged 19 and over and patient’s sex recorded as female.
2. Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
3. Rates where underlying numerator count is under 20 are excluded from display.
4. Counts under 3 are excluded from display.
5. Records where external cause of injury was not reported are excluded from display.
6. Some injury related deaths may be associated with multiple external causes. The values for 'All external causes' reflect the total number of deaths and may therefore be lower than the sum of causes.

Hospitalisation rates were highest for women aged 65 years and over for most causes

Rates of injury hospitalisation often fluctuated by age and varied between each external cause group. Women aged 65 and over had the highest rates of injury hospitalisation for 8 of the 15 cause groups (Figure 13).  For assault injury hospitalisations, women aged 25 to 39 had the highest rates, being 8.2 times higher than for women aged 65 years and over (126.8 and 15.5 per 100,000 respectively).

Over half of all injury deaths were due to falls among women aged 65 and over

3,344 women aged 65 years and over died from fall injuries making up over half (57%) of injury deaths among women in 2022–23. The rate of injury death from falls for women aged 65 and over was 66.5 times higher than the rate for women aged 40 to 64 (139.6 and 2.1 per 100,000 population respectively) (Figure 13).

Rates of injury death from accidental poisoning, suicide and undetermined intent were highest among women aged 40 to 64 and for all other causes of injury death, the highest rates were observed for women aged 65 and over.

Figure 13: Number and crude rate (per 100,000) of injury hospitalisations and deaths among women by external cause and age group, Australia, 2022–23

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database, AIHW National Mortality Database, and ABS National, state and territory population.

Notes:

1. Only includes records where patient was aged 19 and over and patient’s sex recorded as female.
2. Rates are crude per 100,000 population.
3. Rates where underlying numerator count is under 10 are excluded from display.
4. Hospitalisation counts under 5 are excluded from display.
5. Death counts under 3 are excluded from display.
6. Records where external cause of injury was not reported are excluded from display.
7. Some injury related deaths may be associated with multiple external causes. The values for 'All external causes' reflect the total number of deaths and may therefore be lower than the sum of causes.