Falls by elderly a leading cause of accidents and deaths in Australia

Two new reports released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) look at injury and poisoning cases that resulted in hospitalisation or death.

The first report, Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia 2003-04, shows that fall injuries were the largest group of injuries at 36% of all hospitalised injury cases (123,461). Nearly half of the fall injuries occurred in people aged 65 years and over.

The second report, Injury Deaths, Australia 2003-04, was compiled by the AIHW’s National Injury Surveillance Unit using data processed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics originating mainly from coroners.

The report shows that injury is a major cause of death, accounting for over 7% of all deaths during 2003-04. 9,924 people died following injury in 2003-04.

Falls were the most frequent cause of death (2,960 deaths) accounting for 30% of all fatal injuries, but followed by suicide.

Findings on injury hospitalisations also include:

· Hospitals treated 344,8
people for injuries and poisoning from 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2004
· Falls and transport-related injuries account for half of all injury hospitalisations
· Nearly half of unintentional falls occurred in people aged 65 and over
· The highest rate of fall injuries occurred in women aged 85 and over

Findings on injury deaths also include:

. Falls were the most frequent cause of death (2,960), accounting for 30% of all fatal injuries