Unintentional injuries in women, Victoria 2014/15 to 2023/24 (Hazard Edition 94)

This edition of Hazard explores unintentional injuries among Victorian women. The risk factors, causes, and nature of injuries differ between women and men and also vary across age groups. Aging is generally associated with changes in the patterns of injury epidemiology, and for women, age in relation to menopausal status is particularly significant. The aim of this edition of Hazard is therefore to provide an epidemiological overview of unintentional injuries in women, in four age divisions: adolescent women (ages 15–24 years); adult women, mostly pre-menopausal (25–49 year); adult women, post-menopausal (50–64 years); and older adult women (65 years and above). Time trends for the ten-year period from 2014/15 to 2023/24 are presented as population-based injury rates. A more in-depth analysis of the injury patterns observed in the most recent three years (2021/22 to 2023/24) is presented as frequencies (counts) and proportions. The focus of the analysis is on presenting injuries in women, with comparisons across the life stages: injuries in men are not presented. This edition of Hazard was based on the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset (VAED), which was sourced from the Victorian Department of Health. The VAED was used to determine injury incidence, hospital admission outcomes, and overall hospital burden, which are presented for each of the four age divisions.