Emergency Department Visits for Injurious Falls among the Elderly, 2006

Excerpt

This Statistical Brief presents data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) on ED visits among elderly adults that noted both an injury diagnosis and a fall in 2006. Specifically, patient and utilization characteristics of ED visits for injurious falls are discussed and compared with all other types of ED visits among the elderly. Rates of injurious falls are presented by gender and age. The Brief also provides information about the types of injuries most often associated with fall-related ED visits, with a special focus on fractures. In addition to prevalence estimates, data on the likelihood of hospital admission and discharge to LTC are presented by type of injury. Unless otherwise noted, estimates are based on all-listed diagnoses. All differences between estimates provided in the text are statistically significant at the 0.05 level or better.