Notes on the data: Premature mortality by selected cause - 0 to 74 years

Deaths from accidental poisoning, people aged 0 to 74 years, 2018 to 2022

Policy context: Accidental poisoning is caused by exposure to a substance in an amount that harms the body, which in most cases involves pharmaceutical drugs (those prescribed by a health practitioner and those obtained by other means) [1]. Pharmaceutical substances, such as over-the counter and prescription medications, cause most unintentional poisonings in Australia [2].

In 2020-21, harmful exposure to pharmaceutical drugs made up 85% of accidental poisoning hospitalisations, and a rate of 5.3 per 100,000 population [1]. In 2021-22, the rate of death for males was 1.3 times higher as for females [1]. In 2021-22 rates of death by accidental poisoning increased with remoteness, with major cities and inner regional areas having an age-standardised rate of 32 per 100,000, outer regional 45 per 100,000, remote 47 per 100,000, and very remote 49 per 100,000 [1].

For 2018 to 2022, 97.1% of deaths from accidental poisoning were premature – 98.5% for males and 96.5% for females: these and other details are available here.

References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Injury in Australia: Accidental poisoning. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/injury/accidental-poisoning; last accessed 4 September 2024
Tovell A , McKenna K , Bradley C , et al. Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia 2009–10. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2012. Cat. no. INJCAT 145.

Notes: International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes: X40-X49

For detailed data files released since 2007, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has applied a staged approach to the coding of cause of death which affects the number of records available for release at any date. In general, the latest year's data are designated preliminary, the second latest as revised and the data for the remaining years as final. For further information about the ABS revisions process see the following and related sites: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3303.0Explanatory+Notes12012.

Data published here are from the following releases: 2018, 2019 and 2020, final; and 2021 and 2022, preliminary.

Geography: Data available by Population Health Area, Local Government Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area and Quintiles within PHNs, and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Deaths from accidental poisoning, people aged 0 to 74 years

Denominator: Population aged 0 to 74 years

Detail of analysis: Average annual indirectly age-standardised rate per 100,000 population (aged 0 to 74 years); and/or indirectly age-standardised ratio, based on the Australian standard.

Source: Data compiled by PHIDU from deaths data based on the 2018 to 2022 Cause of Death Unit Record Files supplied by the Australian Coordinating Registry and the Victorian Department of Justice, on behalf of the Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the National Coronial Information System. The population is the average of the ABS Estimated Resident Population (ERP) for Australia, 30 June 2018 to 30 June 2022.