4. Falls deaths Australia 1994

(ICD9 E-codes 880-888)

Table 4.1 Key indicators of falls deaths

Indicator	Males	Females	Persons
Cases	457	545	1,002
Percent of all injury deaths	9%	26%	14%
Crude rate/100,000 pop	5.2	6.1	5.6
Age-adjusted rate/100,000 pop	6.2	4.4	5.2
Change in adj. rate since 1993	4%	20%	13%
Average years lost before age 75 yrs	10	2	6

Age and sex distribution

The majority of falls deaths occur to people over the age of 75 years.
Male rates were higher than female rates for all age groups, with rates rising rapidly around 60 years.
The age-adjusted rate of falls deaths for all ages was 5.2 deaths per 100,000 in 1994, for persons over 75 it was 89 deaths per 100,000, and for those 85 plus years it was 238 deaths per 100,000.
Of the 545 female falls deaths recorded in 1994, 87% (n=476) occurred to women aged 75 years or more. In comparison, males 75 or more years accounted for 58% (n=268) of all male falls deaths.
There were 4 falls deaths recorded for children aged 0-14 in 1994, with all of these being male.
Female case numbers were more numerous than males after 75 years because more women than men survive to old age.

The rate of falls deaths has declined by 43% since 1979 (40% males, 45% females).
The overall male age-adjusted rate has been around 1.4 times the female rate since 1979.
The BHOA target for the year 2000 is to reduce the rate of falls deaths of people aged 65 and over by 10% of the 1992 rate to approximately 35.2 deaths per 100,000 population. The rate was 38.3 deaths per 100,000 in 1994, up 17% from 1993, and no clear trend has been apparent in recent years.

Rates for this type of injury are similar throughout Australia.
Queensland was the only state whose rate was significantly higher than the national average in 1994. This was due to a large increase in the number of deaths recorded in persons aged 75 or more years, with an increase of 33 deaths for males and 105 deaths for females in this age range compared to 1993.