Injury in Australia

The total number of hospitalisations for injuries does not usually change much over the seasons. Data for the three most recent years suggest slightly lower numbers during July to October and a dip in January.

From March 2020, a range of restrictions on travel, business and social interactions were introduced in response to COVID-19.  These restrictions coincided with a temporary drop in injury hospitalisations, resulting in 14% fewer admissions from March to May than in the same period of the previous year (Figure 2).

For some injury cause categories, the number of hospitalisations does change with the seasons – explore the interactive display.

Figure 2: Seasonal differences in injury hospitalisations, 2018–19 to 2020–21

Notes

1. Admission counts have been standardised into two 15-day periods per month.
2. A scale-up factor has been applied to June admissions to account for cases not yet separated.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

The age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisation in 2020–21 was 7.9% higher than a year earlier. This followed a dip the previous year that appears to mostly have been caused by COVID-19 restrictions.

Over the period from 2011–12 to 2016–17, the rate of hospitalisations increased by an annual average of 1.5%.

There is a break in the time series between 2016–17 and 2017–18 due to a change in data collection methods (see the technical notes for details).

For injury deaths, the age-standardised rate in 2019–20 was 4.4% lower than a year earlier. Between 2010–11 and 2019–20,  there was an average annual decrease in the rate of 0.1%. However, the trends for males and females were different. The rate for females decreased by an annual average of 0.7% over this period, while the rate for males increased by an annual average of 0.2% (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Age-standardised rate and number of injury hospitalisations and deaths, by year

For more detail, see Data tables C1–4 and F1–4.

Figure 4: Injury hospitalisations and deaths, by age group and sex

For more detail, see Data tables A1–3 and D1–3.

Cause and sex

The various causes of injury tend to affect one sex more than the other, usually males more than females. Males had higher rates of injury hospitalisation across all causes except falls and intentional self-harm.

Some causes, such as accidental poisoning, showed a relatively small difference in impact between the sexes, while others showed a large difference (Figure 5).

The largest differences in hospitalisation rates in 2020–21 were from:

• contact with objects (the rate for males was 2.6 times that for females) and
• electricity and air pressure (the rate for males was 2.4 times that for females).

Males had higher rates of injury death than females across every cause category in 2019–20. For males, the highest age-standardised rate was for suicide, while for females it was for falls.

Figure 5: Injury hospitalisations and deaths, by cause and sex

For more detail, see Data tables A1–3, D1–3 and B1–34.

Cause and age

Different age groups face different injury risk factors. As a result, injuries from the various causes occur in different proportions in each age group.

For injury hospitalisations in 2020–21:

• unintentional falls and contact with objects both placed in the top 3 causes across all life-stage age groups (Figure 6)
• falls accounted for 44% of all hospitalised injuries in the 0–4 age group, 15% in the 15–24 age group and 77% for the 65-and-over group
• transport accidents, contact with living things, and intentional self-harm also featured among the top causes across age groups.

For injury deaths in 2019–20:

• falls was the cause for which the rate varied most across the life-stages, ranging from less than 1 death per 100,000 for children aged 0–4 up to 122 deaths per 100,000 for people aged 65 and over (Figure 6).

Figures 6 illustrates which causes of injury are most common for each life-stage age group. Hover over a point of interest for more detail.

Figure 6: Top 5 causes of injury leading to hospitalisation and death, by age

For more detail, see Data tables A1–3 and B1–34.

Each cause is discussed further on its own page.

There are many ways the severity, or seriousness, of an injury can be measured. Some of the ways to measure the severity of hospitalised injuries are:

• number of days in hospital
• time in an intensive care unit (ICU)
• time on a ventilator
• in-hospital deaths.

Average length of hospital stay

In 2020–21, the most severe injuries in terms of average number of days in hospital were due to falls (6.6 days), thermal causes (5.2 days), and transport accidents (4.4 days) (Figure 7).

The average length of stay may be influenced by the age of those injured, with younger people staying fewer days in hospital than older people across all cause categories. Older people tend to recover more slowly and are more likely to have additional health problems or complications. This particularly affects the statistics for causes with higher proportions of older people, such as falls.

Figure 7: Average number of days in hospital, by cause of injury, 2020–21

Note: 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.

Intensive care

Almost 12,900 injury hospitalisations (2.2% of all cases) involved a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) in 2020–21. Injuries due to intentional self-harm and undetermined intent were most likely to result in time in an ICU (Figure 8).

Continuous ventilatory support

Continuous ventilatory support is when a patient breathes via an artificial airway with the aid of a machine.

About 7,100 injury hospitalisations (1.2% of all cases) involved continuous ventilatory support in 2020–21. Most patients needing this level of support will be in an ICU.

Injuries due to undetermined intent and drowning and submersion were most likely to result in continuous ventilatory support (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Percentage of injury hospitalisations requiring time in an ICU and continuous ventilatory support, by cause of injury, 2020–21

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

In-hospital deaths

When an injured person is admitted to hospital, and dies despite the treatment provided, that can be an indication of the severity of their injuries. Figure 9 compares the causes of injury by the rate of hospitalisations where people died in hospital, per 1,000 patients. Drowning and submersion, and choking and suffocation were the causes with the highest rates of in-hospital death.

Figure 9: In-hospital deaths per 1,000 cases, by cause of injury, 2020–21

For more detail, see Data tables A13–15.

This section summarises:

• the parts of the body injured in hospitalisations and
• the main types of injury.

Body part injured

In 2020–21, the head or neck was the body part most often identified as the main site of injury in hospitalisations (Figure 10). To some extent this probably reflects the serious nature of head and neck injuries.

Figure 10: Injury hospitalisations by main body part injured, 2020–21

Notes

1. Main body part refers to the principal reason for hospitalisation.
2. ‘Trunk’ includes thorax, abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine and pelvis.
3. Number and percentage of injuries classified as Other, multiple, and incompletely specified body regions and Injuries not described in terms of body region not shown – see Data table A11.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

Different causes tend to lead to different parts of the body being injured. Figure 11 shows the three most common body parts injured for some of the most common cause categories.

Figure 11: Top 3 body parts injured as a proportion of hospitalisations, for selected causes, 2020–21

Note: ‘Trunk’ includes thorax, abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine and pelvis.

For more detail, see Data table A11.

Types of injury

Different causes tend to lead to different types of injury. Fractures were the most common type of injury overall and across many cause categories. Open wounds and soft tissue injuries were the next most common overall. Figure 12 shows the most common types of injury in hospitalisations for selected causes.

Figure 12: Top 3 types of injury leading to hospitalisation as a proportion for selected causes, 2020–21

For more detail, see Data table A10.

Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, there were 33,600 hospitalisations for injury in 2020–21, and 520 deaths in 2019–20. Falls and assault were the two most common causes of injury that led to hospitalisations (Table 1); suicide was the most common cause of injury deaths (Table 2).

Indigenous males, compared with Indigenous females (age-standardised) were:

• 1.2 times as likely to be hospitalised due to an injury in 2020–21
• 1.9 times as likely to die from an injury in 2019–20.

Injury hospitalisation rates were highest for Indigenous Australians in the 25–44 age group (Figure 13).

Note: All-causes total includes hospitalisations where the cause has undetermined intent or is missing, or where the cause is not elsewhere classified.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

Notes

1. Deaths data only includes data for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.
2. The sum of the counts by cause may be greater than the total number of injury deaths because some deaths have multiple causes.

Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.

For more detail, see Data tables A4–A6 and D4–D8.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians, compared with non-Indigenous Australians, using age-standardised rates, were:

• 2.1 times as likely to be hospitalised due to an injury in 2020–21 (Table 3)
• 1.9 times as likely to die from an injury in 2019–20 (Table 4).

The cause of injury hospitalisation with the largest difference in rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians was assault, which was 15 times as high in the Indigenous population. Rates of injury among Indigenous Australians for intentional self-harm, thermal causes, accidental poisoning, contact with living things, undetermined intent and exposure to forces of nature were all more than twice as high as those for non-Indigenous Australians (Table 3).

Note:

1. Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
2. ‘Non-Indigenous Australians’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Mortality Database.

The cause of injury death with the largest difference in rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians was homicide, which was 6.8 times as high in the Indigenous population. Rates of death for accidental poisoning, transport accidents, and suicide were more than twice as high for Indigenous Australians (Table 4). Readers are advised to use caution when using the rates in categories with low numbers of deaths.

Age standardised rates for other categories not publishable because of small numbers, confidentiality or other concerns about the quality of the data.

Notes:

1. Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
2. Deaths data only includes data for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.
3. ‘Non-Indigenous Australians’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.

Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.

The rate of injury hospitalisations was highest among the 25–44 life-stage age group for Indigenous Australians and among the 65-and-over age group for non-Indigenous Australians (Figure 13).

Figure 13: Injury hospitalisations and deaths, by Indigenous status, sex and age group

For more detail, see Data tables A4–6 and D4–6.

Areas of Australia which are more remote tend to have higher rates of hospitalisation and death from injury than less remote areas. People living in Very remote areas, compared with people living in Major cities, were:

• 2.3 times as likely to be hospitalised due to an injury in 2020–21 (Table 5)
• 2.0 times as likely to die from an injury in 2019–20  (Table 6).

Note: Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.

Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.

Cause of injury by remoteness

The cause of injury with the largest difference in hospitalisation rates between remoteness areas was assault, with the rate for Very remote areas 20 times that of Major cities (Table 7).

Note: Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Mortality Database.

Age-standardised rates of death by cause of injury in Remote and Very remote areas need to interpreted with caution because of low numbers of deaths in some categories. In the case of the 520 transport accidents, the rate for those living in Very remote areas was 6.0 times the rate for Major cities.

For further detail see Data tables A7–9 and D7–9.

Remoteness by age

The highest rate of injury hospitalisations was among the 15–24 life-stage age group living in Very remote areas of Australia (Figure 14).

Figure 14: Injury hospitalisations and deaths, by remoteness, by age group and sex

For more detail, see Data tables A7–9 and D9–10.

For information on how the statistics were calculated by remoteness, see the technical notes.

Technical notes: how the data were calculated

Data tables: download full data tables

Glossary

The first year of COVID-19 in Australia: direct and indirect health effects

Trends in hospitalised injury, Australia, 2007–08 to 2016–17

Trends in injury deaths, Australia, 1999–00 to 2016–17

MyHospitals

Life expectancy and deaths (topic)