Spinal injuries in Australia 2020-21

There were 909 spinal injury hospitalisations among First Nations Australians in 2020–21. There were more hospitalisations for First Nations Australians males than females (56% were males; 44% were females) and the crude rate per 100,000 was higher for males than females (118 cases and 93 cases per 100,000, respectively).

Figure 3: Number and rate of spinal injury hospitalisations, First Nations people, by age group and sex, 2020–21

First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians

Rates of spinal injury hospitalisations for First Nations Australians were higher than for non-Indigenous Australians (See Table 2).

In 2020–21, the age standardised rates of spinal injury hospitalisations for First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians showed:

• The rate for First Nations people was 1.5 times that of non-Indigenous people.
• For every hospitalisation for non-Indigenous females, there were 1.4 hospitalisations for First Nations females.
• For every hospitalisation for non-Indigenous males, there were 1.5 hospitalisations for First Nations males.