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Observational Study
. 2018 Aug;44(4):567-571.
doi: 10.1007/s00068-017-0818-2. Epub 2017 Jul 17.

Falls in older people: comparing older and younger fallers in a developing country

R R Yogi  1 , I Sammy  2   3 , J F Paul  4 , P Nunes  4 , P Robertson  5 , V Ramcharitar Maharaj  5
Affiliations
Observational Study

Falls in older people: comparing older and younger fallers in a developing country

R R Yogi et al. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: While falls are common in older people, causing significant mortality and morbidity, this phenomenon has not been extensively studied in the Caribbean. This study aimed to compare falls in older and younger people in this setting.

Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study of older trauma patients in Trinidad, comparing older and younger patients sustaining falls.

Results: 1432 adult trauma patients were included (1141 aged 18-64 years and 291 aged 65 years and older). Older fallers were more likely to be female (66.7 vs 47.2%; p < 0.001), suffer from multiple pre-existing diseases (24.7 vs 2.4%; p < 0.001) and take multiple medications (16.1 vs 0.8%; p < 0.001). They also sustained more severe injuries and presented with higher acuity than younger fallers. Admission rates were higher among older fallers (29.9 vs 13.1%; p < 0.001).

Conclusions: In our study, older patients who fell were a distinct group from younger falls victims, with unique demographic, clinical and injury related characteristics. Their increased risk of injury within the home, coupled with their propensity for more severe injuries made them a high risk patient group. More research is needed to better understand this patient group and plan specific preventive interventions.

Keywords: Accidental falls; Aged; Hospital emergency service; Wounds and injuries.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

Rachna Yogi, Ian Sammy, Joann Paul, Paula Nunes, Paula Robertson and Vidya Ramcharitar Maharaj declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research involving human participants

Ethical approval was obtained from the research ethics committees of the Southwestern Regional Health Authority and the University of the West Indies, St Augustine; all data were anonymised at the point of collection.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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