Injury in Western Australia continues to be a significant public health issue. Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) has released comprehensive data related to admissions and injury trends among various categories of patients between 2013-2023 This data covers a wide spectrum of injury, including road trauma, farm, pedal cyclist, horse riding, ladder/roof, spinal cord, e-rideable and older adult-related injuries. We encourage researchers, policymakers, and public health professionals to explore this data.
Injuries among international visitors–
- 388 international visitors aged between 16-88 sustained a major injury resulting in admission to RPH.
- Main causes of injury were road trauma, falls, struck by an object or water related.
- 243 international visitors sustained an injury resulting in admission to RPH following a road trauma event, with over half of these occurring in the country areas.
- 216 farm injury cases admitted to RPH
- Over 80% were males living in regional areas with nearly 40% of injuries being work-related.
- Motorbikes, quadbikes and motor vehicles contribute to over 45% of farm injury admissions.
- 685 admissions to RPH of people who sustained a major injury as a result of pedal cyclist related trauma.
- 86.6% of admissions were males.
- Pedal cycle crashes were higher in the metro area (77.8%) compared to regional areas (20.7%)
- 158 people were admitted to RPH with major injuries attributed to horse-related trauma.
- 70.9% were female.
- Steady increase in number of admissions to RPH of people who sustained an injury after falling from a roof or ladder peaking at 98 admissions in 2021 and reducing to 66 in 2022.
- 92.9% were male older adults.
- 532 patients were admitted into RPH after sustaining an SCI aged between 14-95.
- 82.5% were male and 35% were from falls
- Of the 16-39 age range, there were 134 patients with a SCI as a result from road trauma.
- Between 2017-2022 there were 74 admissions of people who sustained a major injury as the result of an e-ridable related trauma, with a steady increase from 2 in 2017 to 33 in 2022.
- 87.8% were males, with the most common age group between 31-45 years old.
- 2295 older adults admitted to RPH with major trauma injuries.
- 64.3% were from falls, followed by road trauma 28.6%
- 77.1% were from metro areas and 61.7% were males.
The release of this data reinforces the need for adopting injury prevention and safety initiatives. Researchers, policymakers and healthcare professionals can use this information to make informed decisions, and implement injury prevention and safety promotion initiatives to improve the health and wellbeing of the WA community.