Trends in injury rates
Trends in fatal injury rates Figure 1. Rates of injury fatalities, New Zealand, 1980-1999 Trends in injury hospitalisation rates Figure 2. Rates of injury hospitalisations, New Zealand, 1980-1999 Trends in ACC claims Why do the graphs stop at 1999?Trends in fatal injury rates
After a low point in 1983, New Zealand's injury fatality rate increased to a peak in 1986 since which it has continued to decline (see Figure 1). Since 1986, the fatal injury rate, which was 61.9 deaths per 100,000 person-years in that year, has fallen 33% to 41.7 deaths per 100,000 person-years in 1998.
Figure 1 also shows the contributions of different injury mechanisms (e.g. motor vehicle traffic crashes, suicide, falls) to the total fatality rate. Much of the decline in the overall rate appears to be due to progressive reductions in deaths from motor vehicle traffic crashes since 1989.
^ back to topFigure 1. Rates of injury fatalities, New Zealand, 1980-1999
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Trends in injury hospitalisation rates
Figure 2 (below) shows the trend for injury hospitalisation rates between 1980-1999. The rate has fallen 18% from 1,299 hospitalisations per 100,000 person-years in 1980 to 1,064 hospitalisations per 100,000 person-years in 1999.
Some caution needs to be applied when using injury hospitalisation rates to establish trends, as they have been influenced by changes over time in hospital discharge practices and data collection methods. In order to control for some of these factors, the data used to develop Figure 2 excludes day patients, readmissions, and injury due to medical procedures.
While injuries due to 'cutting and piercing' and 'struck by/struck against' feature in injury hospitalisation statistics, they tend to be less severe than injuries from falls and motor vehicle traffic crashes, which account for disproportionately more days stay in hospital.
^ back to topFigure 2. Rates of injury hospitalisations, New Zealand, 1980-1999
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Trends in ACC claims
The rate of all claims registered by ACC has declined slightly in recent years from 38,295 claims per 100,000 person-years in 1995/96 to 37,014 per 100,000 person-years in 2000/01.
^ back to topWhy do the graphs stop at 1999?
The trend information in Figures 1 and 2 is based on the National Minimum Data Set managed by the New Zealand Health Information Service (NZHIS). Unfortunately, there is a time lag before data is collected and released for public use. When this fact sheet was developed, data was only available up to 1999.
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