Taylor, Danielle H., Peden, Amy E., and Franklin, Richard C. (2022) Disadvantaged by More Than Distance: A Systematic Literature Review of Injury in Rural Australia. Safety, 8 (3). 66.

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Abstract

Rural populations experience injury-related mortality and morbidity rates 1.5 times greater than metropolitan residents. Motivated by a call for stronger epidemiological evidence around rural injuries to inform prevention, a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature published between January 2010 and March 2021 was undertaken to explore the epidemiology of rural injury and associated risk factors in Australia. A subsequent aim was to explore definitions of rurality used in injury prevention studies. There were 151 papers included in the review, utilizing 23 unique definitions to describe rurality. People living in rural areas were more likely to be injured, for injuries to be more severe, and for injuries to have greater resulting morbidity than people in metropolitan areas. The increase in severity reflects the mechanism of rural injury, with rural injury events more likely to involve a higher energy exchange. Risk-taking behavior and alcohol consumption were significant risk factors for rural injury, along with rural cluster demographics such as age, sex, high socio-economic disadvantage, and health-related comorbidities. As injury in rural populations is multifactorial and nonhomogeneous, a wide variety of evidence-based strategies are needed. This requires funding, political leadership for policy formation and development, and implementation of evidence-based prevention interventions.

Item ID:	77885
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2313-576X
Keywords:	regional; remote; trauma; accident; remoteness; rurality; safety; prevention; disadvantage
Copyright Information:	© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Date Deposited:	13 Mar 2023 23:41
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420604 Injury prevention @ 100%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200408 Injury prevention and control @ 100%
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