Injury Matters’ Know Injury program and the WA Department of Health’s Epidemiology Directorate have recently collaborated to produce a new resource ‘Burden of Injury in WA’.
Utilising data collated from the 2018 Australian Burden of Disease Study, this resource assists in quantifying the fatal and non-fatal burden of injury in WA, and reinforces the significant impact that injury continues to have on the WA community.
The resource highlights a number of WA injury statistics, including that in 2018;
Injury was the fifth-highest cause of burden in WA.
Suicide was the injury topic with the highest-burden, contributing to 33% of all injury burden.
Injury burden was twice as high among males than females.
Aboriginal people experienced disability adjusted life years due to injury three times higher than non-Aboriginal people.
Alcohol and illicit drugs were the leading modifiable risk factors contributing to WA’s injury burden, contributing to 20% and 15% of the total burden respectively.
The resource also includes data regarding the estimated WA healthcare expenditure on injury in 2018-19, with injury estimating to cost $1,075 million. Falls-related injuries are estimated to have contributed to over a third of this cost at $408 million.
Click here to download resource to learn more about the burden of injury in WA, including additional analysis by injury topics and age groups.
The Know Injury program is provided by Injury Matters and funded by the WA Department of Health.