Brain injury key facts & figures

About brain injury

  • One in 45 Australians live with a brain injury (AIHW, 2007)
  • More men have brain injuries than women (AIHW, 2007)
  • Almost three out of four people with a brain injury are under 65 (AIHW, 2007)
  • One in four brain injury hospitalisations are people aged 15 – 24 (AIHW, 2021a)
  • 2% of all Australians live with a brain injury (Jackson & Hardy, 2011)

Sources:

  • ABS (2003). [Australian Bureau of Statistics]. Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Caring in the Community Catalogue Number 4430.0.55.003, Canberra: ABS
  • AIHW (2007). [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare]. Disability In Australia: Acquired Brain Injury, Bulletin 55, Canberra: AIHW.
  • AIHW (2021a) [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare]. Health service use for patients with traumatic brain injury, Canberra: AIHW, Australian Government.
  • Jackson, M., and Hardy, G. (2011). Acquired Brain Injury in the Victorian Prison System. Corrections Research Paper Series, no. 04. Melbourne : Dept. of Justice, 2011. 

Common causes of brain injury

  • Falls cause 39% of brain injuries (AIHW 2021a) 
  • Motor vehicle and cycling accidents cause 31% of brain injuries (AIHW 2021a) 
  • Assaults cause 12% of brain injuries (AIHW 2021a) 

Other causes (AIHW 2022):

  • Other traumatic accidents 
  • Strokes 
  • Hypoxia/anoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) 
  • Alcohol and drug abuse/FASD 
  • Brain tumours 
  • Poisoning 
  • Infection and diseases. 

Sources:  

  • AIHW (2021a) [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare].  Health service use for patients with traumatic brain injury, Canberra: AIHW, Australian Government. 
  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2022) People with disability in Australia 2022, catalogue number DIS 72, AIHW, Australian Government. 

Impact of brain injury

  • 51% of Indigenous Australians between 45-59 report a head injury (Jamieson et al., 2008) 
  • 42% of adult male prisoners have been diagnosed with a brain injury (Jackson & Hardy, 2011) 
  • 30% of Australians seeking homelessness support have a disability (AIHW, 2022) 
  • Head injuries from falls in older Australians have doubled in the past decade (AIHW, 2019b) 

Sources:

  • AIHW (2007). [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare]. Disability In Australia: Acquired Brain Injury, Bulletin 55, Canberra: AIHW.
  • AIHW (2019b) [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare]. The health of Australia’s prisoners 2018. Canberra: AIHW, Australian Government.
  • Jackson, M., and Hardy, G. (2011). Acquired Brain Injury in the Victorian Prison System. Corrections Research Paper Series, no. 04. Melbourne: Dept. of Justice, 2011.
  • Jamieson, L. M., Harrison, J. E., & Berry, J. G. (2008). Hospitalisation for head injury due to assault among indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, July 1999 - June 2005. Medical Journal of Australia, 188(10), 576–579. https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01793

Effects of brain injury

Cognitive (Newby et al., 2013)

  • Trouble planning and organising
  • Memory issues
  • Struggles with attention and concentration
  • Trouble with decision making

Psychological (Newby et al., 2013)

  • Low mood and anxiety
  • Panic attacks
  • Clinical depression
  • Risk of suicide
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Stress and anxiety
  • Mental illness

Behavioural (Tyerman, 2018)

  • Personality changes
  • Identity problems
  • Irritability and anger
  • Disinhibition and impulsivity
  • Egocentricity and lack of self –awareness
  • Risk of domestic violence

Physical (Newby et al., 2013)

  • Fatigue and sleep issues
  • Headaches
  • Pain
  • Epilepsy and seizures
  • Sensory and perception issues
  • Balance issues and dizziness
  • Hearing loss
  • Sexual changes
  • Trouble with communication and speech
  • Visual impairments

Sources:

  • Newby, G., Coetzer, R., Daisley, A., & Weatherhead, S. (2013). Practical neuropsychological rehabilitation in acquired brain injury : a guide for working clinicians. In Brain injuries series. London: Karnac.
  • Tyerman, A. (2018). Psychological effects of brain injury. Headway Brain Injury Association, UK. https://www.headway.org.uk/media/3999/psychological-effects-of-brain-injury-e-booklet.pdf

Brain Injury Key Facts & Figures 

Understand the impact of brain injury in Australia. Read the national facts and figures on brain injury.

Housing facts & figures

Domestic and Family Violence

  • 69% identified family and domestic violence as the main reason for accessing homelessness services (AIHW, 2022)
  • Perpetrators of intimate partner violence are twice as likely to have sustained a brain injury (Brain Injury Australia, 2018)
  • 40% of domestic and family violence victims over a 10-year period sustained a brain injury (Brain Injury Australia, 2018)

Sources: 

Incarceration

  • Disadvantage and support needs are highly prevalent among people in prison, particularly: mental health conditions (40%), cognitive disability (33%), problematic alcohol or other drug use (up to 66%), and past homelessness (33%) (Martin et al., 2021).
  • 42% of adult make prisoners and 33% of adult female prisoners have been diagnosed with brain injury (Jackson & Hardy, 2011)
  • Former prisoners in stable housing much are less likely to reoffend than those who are homeless or in unstable accommodation (Brown, 2018)

Sources:

  • Brown, R. (2018). Supported housing for prisoners returning to the community: A review of the literature. Australian Institute of Criminology , 2018. https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/rr07_supported_housing_300418_0.pdf
  • Jackson, M., and Hardy, G. (2011). Acquired Brain Injury in the Victorian Prison System. Corrections Research Paper Series, no. 04. Melbourne : Dept. of Justice, 2011. 
  • Martin, C., Reeve, R., McCausland, R., Baldry, E., Burton, P., White, R. and Thomas, S. (2021) Exiting prison with complex support needs: the role of housing assistance, AHURI Final Report No. 361, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited, Melbourne, https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/361

Indigenous Australians

  • 28% of the total homeless population are Indigenous Australians (AIHW, 2014)
  • 4 in 10 Indigenous homeless people are aged 18 or under (AIHW, 2014)
  • Those in remote communities are three times more likely to acquire a brain injury than in major cities (Harrison, 2006)

Sources:

Young People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC)

  • Every year 2,000 people under 65 enter residential aged care (AIHW, 2019)
  • 1,100 long stay NDIS participants are stuck in Australian hospitals at a cost of $860m per annum (Summer Foundation, 2022)
  • Particular cohorts at increased risk of unsuitable housing, including: young people, women, and Indigenous Australians (Housing ACT, 2019)

Sources: