Characteristics of ex-serving members who used any admitted patient care

Table 10 shows the demographic and military characteristics of ex-serving ADF members who received admitted patient care for any reason at a public hospital from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2020, and the characteristics of ex-serving members (regardless of use of admitted patient care). Note that this table refers to any use admitted patient care and is not only indicative of use of admitted patient care for conditions related to suicidal behaviour.

Table 10: Demographic characteristics of ex-serving ADF members and ex-serving ADF members who used any admitted patient service in public hospitals, 2010-20

Characteristic

Characteristic value

Proportion of male ex-serving members in analysis cohort

Proportion of male ex-serving members with any admission

Proportion of female ex-serving members in analysis cohort

Proportion of female ex-serving members with any admission

Age

17-24

2.3

2.8

2.7

5

Age

25-34

12.3

11.4

12.2

19.4

Age

35-44

26.6

24.7

32.3

33.1

Age

45-54

31.5

29.4

37.5

29.7

Age

55-64

16.7

18

12.7

10.3

Age

65+

10.7

13.7

2.6

2.5

Service

ARMY

68.5

68.9

63.2

63.9

Service

NAVY

15.9

15.5

17.1

18.2

Service

RAAF

15.6

15.5

19.8

17.9

Separation reason

Voluntary

42.1

37.8

43.6

41.9

Separation reason

Involuntary - medical

13

18.3

15.7

19.1

Separation reason

Involuntary - other

35.1

35.8

28.2

27.9

Separation reason

Contractual/Admin change

9.7

8.1

12.5

11.1

Length of service

<1 year

14.2

13.9

17.9

20.3

Length of service

1-<5 years

28.5

26.6

34.1

34.3

Length of service

5-<10 years

18.7

17.7

22.1

21.6

Length of service

10-<20 years

17.3

16.6

17.5

16.3

Length of service

20+ years

20.8

24.5

7.8

7.0

Length of service

Unknown

0.6

0.7

0.5

0.5

Time since service

<1 year

3

4.1

2.9

5.6

Time since service

1-<5 years

11.3

11.5

10.7

14.7

Time since service

5-<10 years

12.5

11.1

12.5

13.7

Time since service

10-<20 years

31.7

31.5

34.3

34.3

Time since service

20+ years

41.5

41.8

39.7

31.7

DVA client status

DVA client - All

27.5

33.1

19.6

22.3

DVA client status

DVA client - gold card

7.4

10.2

1.6

1.8

DVA client status

DVA client - white card

13.4

15.9

9.7

11

DVA client status

DVA client - other

6.7

7.0

8.3

9.5

DVA client status

Not DVA client - All

72.5

66.9

80.4

77.7

Rank

Officer

12.7

10.9

13

10.7

Rank

Sr other ranks

15.2

18

6.1

5.2

Rank

Other ranks

72.1

71

81

84.1

Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence Historical Personnel data–PMKeyS–DVA client–NDI–MCD–NHMD-NNAPEDCD–MBS–PBS–RPBS data (2010–2020) and AIHW NHDH (2019-2020)

Notes

Different vetting and release approval practices apply to the different data sources.

  1. Includes ADF members with at least one day of service since 1 January 1985 who were ex-serving (separated from permanent and/or reserve ADF service) and alive at any point from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2020.
  2. For stay separations between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2020.
  3. Proportion of analysis cohort is the proportion of person years while ex-serving during the analysis period. Person years is calculated by counting the period of time where each person is ex-serving.
  4. Characteristics are determined at the time of a patient's first admitted patient separation for ex-serving members who used an admitted patient service between termination date and death, between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2020.
  5. Includes deaths classified as 'Intentional self harm', identified by ICD-10 codes X60-X84 and Y87.0, that occurred while ex-serving between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2020.
  6. Characteristics are determined at the date of death for ex-serving members who died by suicide.
  7. Includes public hospital data from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Additional data for ex-serving members was provided by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) for DVA-funded admitted patient care in public hospitals in all states and territories, including Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
  8. Excludes stays where the principal diagnosis was in the ICD-10-AM chapter 'Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period' or 'Codes for special purposes'.