Injuries affecting men in Australia: A closer look

This section describes injury hospitalisations and deaths by the external cause of injuries recorded as a primary diagnosis or cause of death. For a detailed description of the cause group definitions and inclusion criteria used in this analysis, see Technical notes. No external cause data is available for emergency department (ED) presentations.

Causes of injury hospitalisations

• Falls caused the highest number of injury hospitalisations, with over 84,100 cases, or 35% of the total. Falls were the leading cause of injury hospitalisation and death in Australia, and include slipping, tripping, falling on the same level or from high places such as stairs or ladders.
• Contact with objects caused the second most injury hospitalisations in 2021-22, with 46,600 injuries affecting adult men, or 19% of the total. Injuries in this category result from contact with inanimate objects, such as getting struck by blunt objects such as rocks, doors or sport equipment, getting injured by powered and unpowered tools and machinery, or getting injured by sharp objects such as knives or broken glass. 
• Transport accidents were the third highest cause of injury in adult men, accounting for close to 32,900 cases, or 14% of the total. Transport accidents can involve a variety of transport types, including cars, motorcycles, pedal bicycles and pedestrians. 

Figure 6: Number of injury hospitalisations in adult men by external cause of injury, Australia, 2021-22

Notes:

1. Only includes hospitalisations where the patient age was greater than or equal to 19, and where sex was recorded as male.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD).

Among the top 10 external causes of injury in men, falls represented the only category with a rate of injury increasing with age, being over 10 times higher in men aged 75 and over (4,510 hospitalisations per 100,000) than in men aged 19 to 24 (374 per 100,000) (Figure 7).

For every other external cause category in the top 10, the crude rate of hospitalisation was highest in men aged 19 to 24, and decreased with age in older age groups. 

Figure 7: Crude rate (per 100,000) of injury hospitalisations in adult men by external cause of injury and age group, Australia, 2021-22

10-year trends

The three most frequent causes of injury hospitalisations in adult men have remained unchanged throughout the past decade (Figure 8).

• Falls have been the most common cause of injury hospitalisations in men. The number of injury hospitalisations caused by falls has steadily increased from 56,900 in 2012-13 to 84,100 in 2021-22, corresponding to an age-standardised rate increase from 673 to 790 injury hospitalisations per 100,000 adult men.
• Contact with objects is the second most common cause of injury hospitalisation, causing between 36,600 and 48,900 hospitalisations yearly over the past decade. ASRs changed from 428 in 2012-13 to 485 in 2021-22.
• Transport accidents are the third most common cause of injury hospitalisation, causing between 30,000 and 36,700 hospitalisations each year since 2012-13. This corresponded to an age-standardised rate of 347 per 100,000 in 2012-13 and 343 per 100,000 in 2021-22, the lowest rate observed in the past decade. 

Figure 8: Number and age-standardised rates (per 100,000) of injury hospitalisations in adult men, Australia, 2012-13 to 2021-22 

Notes:

1. Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
2. Only includes hospitalisations where the patient age was greater than or equal to 19, and where sex was recorded as male.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) and ABS National, state and territory population.

The ranking of external causes of injury has remained consistent over the past 10 years. Amongst the top 10 causes of injury in adult men, the only observed change occurred in 2021-22, where more injury hospitalisations were caused by contact with living things (11,900) compared to assault (11,300) (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Ranking of the top 10 external causes of injury hospitalisations in adult men, Australia, 2012-13 to 2021-22.

Notes:

1. Only includes hospitalisations where the patient age was greater than or equal to 19, and where sex was recorded as male.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) and ABS National, state and territory population.

Causes of injury deaths 

In 2021-22, there were over 8,700 injury related deaths among men,  61% of all adult injury deaths in Australia. 

The top three causes of injury death were (Figure 10): 

• falls, with over 3,000 deaths,
• suicide, causing 2,300 deaths, 
• transport accidents, resulting in over 1,000 injury deaths.

Figure 10: Number of injury deaths in adult men by external cause of injury, Australia, 2021-22

Notes:

1. Only includes injury deaths where age at the time of death was greater than or equal to 19, and where sex was recorded as male.

Sources: AIHW National Mortality Database (NMD).

10-year trends

Over the past decade, the number of injury deaths caused by falls has markedly increased. While falls represented the second most common cause until 2015-16, they have consistently caused the highest number of injury deaths in men since 2016-17 (Figure 11). This is likely due at least in part to an ageing male population over the past decade. However, the age-standardised rate of deaths caused by falls has also increased in the last 10 years (from 21.6 to 26.9 per 100,000).

The gap between falls and the second highest cause, death from suicide, has widened over the past three years (from 2019-20), with an increase in the rate of deaths from falls (from 25.1 to 26.9 per 100,000) combined with a decrease in the rate of deaths from suicide (from 24.8 to 23.7 per 100,000).

Transport and accidental poisoning have caused comparable rates of injury deaths, with age-standardised rates around 10 to 12 deaths per 100,000 adult men each year. 

Figure 11: Number and age-standardised rates (per 100,000) of injury deaths in adult men, Australia, 2012-13 to 2021-22

Notes:

1. Rates are age-standardised per 100,000
2. Only includes injury deaths where age at the time of death was greater than or equal to 19, and where sex was recorded as male.

Sources: AIHW National Mortality Database (NMD).

By ranking the external causes of death from injury in adult men each year, the following trends are observed: (Figure 12)

• falls have been the top cause of injury deaths in adult men since 2016-17,
• intentional self harm is the second ranked cause since 2016-17,
• for the first time since 2015-16, transport accidents represented the third highest cause of injury deaths in 2021-22
• choking and suffocation consistently remained the fifth highest cause of injury deaths in men.

Figure 12: Ranking of the top 10 external causes of injury deaths in adult men, Australia, 2012-13 to 2021-22 

Notes:

1. Only includes injury deaths where age at the time of death was greater than or equal to 19, and where sex was recorded as male.

Sources: AIHW National Mortality Database (NMD).