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The death rate from trauma in very remote areas of the state is more than four times the rate of death in major cities, according to a study by emergency medicine specialists at The University of Western Australia.

UWA's Associate Professor Daniel Fatovich and Associate Professor Ian Jacobs will present their findings at the 25th annual scientific meeting of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, to be held in Wellington, New Zealand from November 23 to 27.

The researchers examined Death Registry figures from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 2006 and allocated deaths to one of five areas: major cities, inner regional, outer regional, remote and very remote.

Almost 5,000 trauma deaths occurred during the nine-year period, of which 72 per cent were males with an average age of 43 years.

The lowest number of deaths was recorded in remote Western Australia.  On average, people who died in more remote areas tended to be younger than those who died in cities.

Dr Fatovich said transport accidents were the leading cause of trauma death outside major cities while self-harm was the leading cause of death in major cities, with hanging the most common.

"The results are likely to be related to the effects of time and distance for these events," he said.

"Such data should be useful in the planning of trauma systems in these areas."

Media references

Dr Daniel Fatovich (+61 8)  9224 2662  /  (+61 4) 09 103 818
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716