CANBERRA: Almost half of injury-related hospitalisations in Australia are caused by falls, a new government report has revealed.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Friday published a new report on the main causes of injury-related hospitalisation in the country in 2022-23 and injury deaths in 2021-22, Xinhua news agency reported.
It found that 548, 654 Australians were hospitalised due to injuries in 2022-23, an increase of 20.3 per cent from 455, 720 in 2013-14.
Of the injuries that required hospitalisation for treatment in 2022-23, 238, 055, or 43.3 per cent, were caused by falls.
Contact with objects and transport were the next-most common cause of injury hospitalisation, accounting for a combined 139, 906 cases.
"Falls have remained the leading cause of injury-related hospitalisation and fatality in Australia over the past decade and across most regions, " AIHW spokesperson Sarah Ahmed said.
The report said that there were 14, 733 injury deaths in Australia in 2021-22, 6, 376 of which were caused by falls. Suicide accounted for 3, 178 injury deaths.
Assault resulted in 20, 490 hospitalisations in 2022-23 and 218 deaths in 2021-22, with people aged between 25 and 44 most likely to be affected.
Accidental poisoning caused 8, 921 hospitalisations in 2022-23 and 1, 567 deaths in 2021-22.