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

Abbreviations

Glossary

Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander: A person of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. See also Indigenous.

age-standardisation: A method of removing the influence of age when comparing populations with different age structures. This is usually necessary because the rates of many diseases vary strongly (usually increasing) with age. The age structures of the different populations are converted to the same ‘standard’ structure, and then the disease rates that would have occurred with that structure are calculated and compared.

associated causes of death: All causes listed on the death certificate, other than the underlying cause of death. They include the immediate cause, any intervening causes, and conditions that contributed to the death but were not related to the disease or condition causing the death.

cause of death: From information reported on the medical certificate of cause of death, each death is classified by the underlying cause of death, according to rules and conventions of the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. The underlying cause is defined as the disease that initiated the train of events leading directly to death. Deaths from injury or poisoning are classified according to the circumstances of the fatal injury, rather than to the nature of the injury. See also underlying cause of death.

crude death rate: The number of deaths in a given period divided by the size of the corresponding population (typically expressed per 1,000 or per 100,000 population).

external cause: The term used in disease classification to refer to an event or circumstance in a person’s external environment that is considered to be the cause of injury or poisoning.

Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage: One of the sets of Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas for ranking the average socioeconomic conditions of the population in an area. It summarises attributes of the population such as low income, low educational attainment, high unemployment, and jobs in relatively unskilled occupations.

Indigenous: A person of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. See also Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems: The World Health Organization’s internationally accepted classification of death and disease. The 10th revision (ICD-10) is currently in use.

multiple causes of death: All causes listed on the death certificate. This includes the underlying cause of death and all associated causes of death.

population estimates: Official population numbers compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics at both state and territory and statistical local area levels, by age and by sex, at 30 June each year. These estimates allow comparisons to be made between geographical areas of differing population sizes and age structures.

P-value: The probability that an observed difference has arisen by chance alone when the null hypothesis is true. By convention, a P-value of 0.05 or less is usually considered statistically significant because the difference it relates to would occur by chance alone only 1 in 20 times or less often.

remoteness classification: Each state and territory is divided into several regions based on their relative accessibility to goods and services (such as general practitioners, hospitals, and specialist care), as measured by road distance. These regions are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia and defined as remoteness areas by either the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (before 2011) or the Australian Statistical Geographical Standard (from 2011 onwards) in each Census year.

socioeconomic area: An indication of how ‘well off’ a person or group is. In this report, socioeconomic area is mostly reported using the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas, typically for 5 groups, from the most disadvantaged (worst off) to the least disadvantaged (best off).

Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas: A set of indexes, created from Census data, that aim to represent the socioeconomic status of Australian communities, and identify areas of advantage and disadvantage. The index value reflects the overall or average level of disadvantage of the population of an area; it does not show how individuals living in the same area differ from each other in their socioeconomic status. This report uses the Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage.

underlying cause of death: The disease or injury that initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to a person's death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury.

usual residence: The area of the address at which the deceased lived or intended to live, for 6 months or more before death.