Abstract
Objectives: To characterise unintentional injury‐related hospitalisation and mortality amongst older adults (aged 50+ years) in the Lakes and Bay of Plenty District Health Boards of Aotearoa New Zealand and to examine whether hospitalisation patterns differed by ethnicity.
Methods: This observational study analysed unintentional injury‐related hospitalisations and deaths among older adults between 2014 and 2018. Routinely collected national data sets were used to calculate annualised, age‐standardised injury rates. The independent variable of interest was ethnicity (Māori or non‐Māori).
Results: There were 11,834 unintentional injury‐related hospitalisations in the study period ( n = 1444 for Māori). Overall, there was no significant difference in the age‐standardised hospitalisation rate between Māori and non‐Māori (Standardised Rate Ratio [SRR] = 0.96 [95% CI 0.90, 1.02]). Falls were the most common mechanism of injury among Māori and non‐Māori overall (50% and 71%) and relative risks of falls increased with age. Non‐Māori were 57% less likely to be hospitalised for unintentional poisoning than Māori (SRR = 0.43, [0.34, 0.59]).
Conclusions: The mechanisms of injury, and variation in unintentional injury‐related hospitalisation rates between Māori and non‐Māori, change throughout older age, and incidence increase0073 with age. Falls cause significant injury‐related hospitalisations for older Māori and responsive injury prevention and rehabilitation efforts are warranted to achieve equitable health outcomes.