Common diagnoses
Emergency department (ED) diagnoses are assigned using a shorter list of codes compared to hospitalisations, and have differences in quality and completeness. In 2021–22, around 7% of ED presentations for children had the principal diagnosis T14.9 Injury, unspecified (39,700). While additional diagnoses are present in ED data, they are seldom used; about 3% of injury ED records among children had additional diagnoses recorded.
This chapter reports on:
• principal diagnoses only in injury ED presentations
• principal and additional injury diagnoses in hospitalisations.
The most common diagnosis across both ED presentations and hospitalisations was S09.9 Unspecified injury of head. This was consistent across males and females for ED presentations. For hospitalisations, the most common diagnosis was:
- S52.51: fracture of lower end of radius with dorsal angulation (Colles Fracture) for males (2,400)
- T39.1: poisoning by 4-Aminophenol derivatives (for example, Panadol) for females (2,600). This could be either intentional or accidental poisoning.
Child age groups display different patterns of injury diagnoses. The infographics below highlight the variations between them.
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Infants (<1 year)
The top diagnosis for emergency department injury presentations was a head injury (7,100 cases)
The top 4 diagnoses for injury hospitalisations were different types of head injuries (1,700 cases).
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1-4
The top diagnosis for ED injury presentations was a head injury (18,900)
3 of the top 5 diagnoses for injury hospitalisations were types of open wounds (3,600).
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5-9
The top diagnosis for ED injury presentations was a head injury (8,700)
The top 4 diagnoses for injury hospitalisations were fractures of the arm (4,700). -
10-12
The top diagnosis for ED injury presentations was a fracture involving the radius in the arm (6,100).
The top 5 diagnoses for injury hospitalisations were fractures of the arm and hand (3,000).
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13-15
The top diagnosis for ED injury presentations was a sprain involving the ankle (7,700)
2 of the top 5 diagnoses for injury hospitalisations were intracranial injuries (1,100).
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16-18
The top diagnosis for emergency department injury presentations was unspecified (8,000)
2 of the top 5 diagnoses for injury hospitalisations were from poisoning or toxic effect (2,100).