Hunter New England Health site

Health in Hunter New England
Table of contents
Chapter introduction
On this page:
Data table
Commentary
References
Print version
Downloadable files

Burden of Disease
Causes of hospitalisation

Note: Hospital separations were classified using ICD-10-AM and were grouped into categories as described in the Methods section.
Source: NSW Inpatient Statistics Collection (HOIST). Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Health Department.

Overall, the most common cause of hospitalisation in Hunter Area in 2003/2004 was "Factors influencing health". This category includes ICD-10-AM codes for symptoms and signs without a specific cause, admissions of live-born infants, and admissions for rehabilitation, nursing home and respite care. Unintentional injuries were the next biggest cause of hospitalisation. These include admissions for motor vehicle and other transport accidents, and admissions for injuries sustained in falls by older people. Diseases of the digestive system and cardiovascular diseases were also leading causes of hospital admission.

The principle causes of admission to hospital varied significantly across age groups:

In the 0 to 4 year age group, hospitalisation most commonly resulted from "Factors influencing health" (37.4 per cent) and neonatal causes (15.8 per cent).

In the 5 to 14 year group, unintentional injuries (22.4 per cent) and chronic respiratory disease (8.8 per cent).

For 15 to 24 year olds, maternal conditions were the dominant cause for females (39.1 per cent) and unintentional injuries were the most common cause for males (25.9 per cent).

In the 25 to 44 year group maternal conditions again dominated for females (33.8 per cent) whilst males were most commonly hospitalised for factors influencing health (18.5 per cent), unintentional injuries (16.4 per cent) and diseases of the digestive system (12.1 per cent).

For 45 to 65 year olds "Factors influencing health" (23.5 per cent) and diseases of the digestive system (12.3 per cent) remained important, musculoskeletal disorder (8.8 per cent), cardiovascular diseases (7.8 per cent) and malignant neoplasms (6.1 per cent) appear as significant causes of hospitalisation.

For the 65 years and older group, factors influencing health (23.4 per cent), unintentional injuries (12.9 per cent), cardiovascular diseases (11.3 per cent) and neoplasms (7.8 per cent) were among the major causes for hospitalisation again.

For more information: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Web site at http://www.aihw.gov.au.

NSW Health Services Comparison Data Book 1998/1999. NSW Department of Health, 2000. Available at http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/iasd/iad/yb9899/

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Rider: The information presented in this report result from analyses of a variety of social and health focused datasets. These datasets originate from a variety of sources including Hunter New England Health, the NSW Department of Health, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The timing of the release of these data to third parties is controlled by the owner of these data. It is therefore possible for these organisations to publish data that they have not yet made available to Hunter New England Population Health for analysis and release. Users should therefore check the publications of these organisations as it is possible that they may have published even more up to date information on Hunter New England than those available in this report. As this report is an ongoing project, the indicators presented will be updated as soon as possible after the release of all datasets to Hunter New England Population Health.
Copyright notice: This work is copyright Hunter New England Area Health Service, 2005. It may be reproduced in whole or in part, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source. Commercial usage or sale is prohibited.
Suggested citation: Hunter New England Population Health. Health in Hunter New England. Hunter New England Area Health Service, 2005. Available at: http://www.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/HHNE/bod/bod_sepcause.htm. Accessed (insert date of access).
Produced by: Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Health, with assistance from: Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Health.
Last updated: 6 December 2005
See NSW Data: To view state data, see NSW Chief Health Officer's Report: internet version, intranet version
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