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

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Release Date: 13 Nov 2019

Topic: Injury

AIHW

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2019) Trends in injury deaths, Australia, 1999–00 to 2016–17, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 26 April 2024.

APA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). Trends in injury deaths, Australia, 1999–00 to 2016–17. Canberra: AIHW.

MLA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Trends in injury deaths, Australia, 1999–00 to 2016–17. AIHW, 2019.

Vancouver

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Trends in injury deaths, Australia, 1999–00 to 2016–17. Canberra: AIHW; 2019.

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Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019, Trends in injury deaths, Australia, 1999–00 to 2016–17, AIHW, Canberra.

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This report focuses on trends in injury deaths that occurred over the period 1999–00 to 2016–17. The age-standardised rate of injury deaths decreased from 55.4 to 47.2 deaths per 100,000 between 1999–00 and 2004–05 and has changed little after that. Rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were generally at least twice as high as rates for non-Indigenous Australians over the period from 2001–02 to 2016–17.

Also see Injury in Australia for more recent trends data.

ISSN: 2205-510X
ISBN: 978 1 76054 650 2
Cat. no: INJCAT 207
Pages: 132

Findings from this report:

There were 13,144 injury-related deaths in 2016–17, corresponding to a rate of 48 deaths per 100,000 population
The 2 main causes of injury deaths in 2016–17 were unintentional falls (38%) and suicide (23%)
The rate of injury deaths declined between 1999–00 and 2004–05 and remained relatively steady thereafter
Rates of injury death increased with socioeconomic disadvantage

Mechanisms of suicide

The most frequently recorded mechanism of suicide in 2016–17 was Hanging, strangulation and suffocation (1,716; 57% of suicide deaths), which accounted for 60% (1,342) of male suicide deaths and 48% (374) of female suicide deaths (Table 10.8). In 1999–2000, these proportions were 43% for males and 37% for females, and proportions for both sexes have risen since then.

The second most frequently recorded type of suicide method was Poisoning (639; 21% of suicide deaths), which accounted for 34 % of female suicide deaths, compared with 17% of male suicide deaths.

The use of firearms was much more prominent among male suicides (6.8%; 153 deaths) than among female suicides (1.0%; 8 deaths).

Table 10.8: Mechanism of suicide deaths, by sex, 2016–17

Mechanism of suicide	Males		Females		Persons
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Hanging, strangulation and suffocation	1,342	59.6	374	47.6	1,716	56.5
Poisoning	373	16.6	266	33.8	639	21.0
Firearms	153	6.8	8	1.0	161	5.3
Jumping from a high place	115	5.1	43	5.5	158	5.2
Jumping or lying before moving object	74	3.3	29	3.7	103	3.4
Cutting, piercing	81	3.6	15	1.9	96	3.2
Drowning and submersion	38	1.7	25	3.2	63	2.1
Crashing of motor vehicle	34	1.5	7	0.9	41	1.3
Smoke, fire and flames, and hot substances	24	1.1	10	1.3	34	1.1
Other specified mechanisms	10	0.4	2	0.3	12	0.4
Unspecified mechanisms	9	0.4	7	0.9	16	0.5
Total suicides	2,253	100.0	786	100.0	3,039	100.0

Source: AIHW NMD.

Table 10.9 lists the type of poisoning agent coded for suicide deaths that involved poisoning by drugs or the toxic effects of substances chiefly non-medicinal as to source.

The most common poisoning agents leading to death were Antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic and antiparkinsonism drugs, which were involved in 40% (254) of deaths. Of deaths involving this class of drugs, 77% (196) involved the use of benzodiazepines, and 17% (42) involved the use of barbiturates.

Other classes of drugs commonly leading to death were Psychotropic drugs, not elsewhere classified (243) and Narcotics and psychodysleptics [hallucinogens] (214). Of deaths involving psychotropic drugs, 75% (182) involved the use of antidepressants.

The most common poisoning agent for non-pharmaceutical substances was carbon monoxide, which was involved in 23% (145) of poisoning-related suicide deaths.

Table 10.9: Poisoning-related suicide deaths, by type of poisoning agent, 2016–17

Poisoning agent	Number	%
Drugs, medicaments and biological substances
Antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic and antiparkinsonism drugs	254	39.7
Psychotropic drugs, not elsewhere classified	243	38.0
Narcotics and psychodysleptics [hallucinogens]	214	33.5
Nonopioid analgesics, antipyretics and antirheumatics	92	14.4
Diuretics and other unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances	42	6.6
Drugs primarily affecting the autonomic nervous system	29	4.4
Primarily systemic and haematological agents, not elsewhere classified	35	5.5
Hormones and their synthetic substitutes and antagonists, not elsewhere classified	22	3.4
Agents primarily affecting the cardiovascular system	15	2.3
Other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological agents	20	3.1
Non-pharmaceutical substances
Carbon monoxide	145	22.7
Alcohol	72	11.3
Other gases, fumes and vapours	8	1.3
Pesticides	7	1.1
Other and unspecified	6	0.9
Total	639	100.0^(a)

Notes:

More than 1 type of poisoning agent was reported for some suicide deaths, so the numbers of suicide deaths including codes for the specified types of agent sum to more than the total number of suicide deaths involving poisoning (661 deaths), and the agent-specific proportions sum to more than 100%.