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. 2017 Aug;18(5):785-793.
doi: 10.5811/westjem.2017.5.33615. Epub 2017 Jul 14.

Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Department Visits for Fall-Related Injuries in Older Adults, 2003-2010

Kalpana N Shankar  1 , Shan W Liu  2 , David A Ganz  3   4
Affiliations

Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Department Visits for Fall-Related Injuries in Older Adults, 2003-2010

Kalpana N Shankar et al. West J Emerg Med. 2017 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: One third of older adults fall each year, and falls are costly to both the patient in terms of morbidity and mortality and to the health system. Given that falls are a preventable cause of injury, our objective was to understand the characteristics and trends of emergency department (ED) fall-related visits among older adults. We hypothesize that falls among older adults are increasing and examine potential factors associated with this rise, such as race, ethnicity, gender, insurance and geography.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) to determine fall trends over time by examining changes in ED visit rates for falls in the United States between 2003 and 2010, detailing differences by gender, sociodemographic characteristics and geographic region.

Results: Between 2003 and 2010, the visit rate for falls and fall-related injuries among people age ≥ 65 increased from 60.4 (95% confidence interval [CI][51.9-68.8]) to 68.8 (95% CI [57.8-79.8]) per 1,000 population (p=0.03 for annual trend). Among subgroups, visits by patients aged 75-84 years increased from 56.2 to 82.1 per 1,000 (P <.01), visits by women increased from 67.4 to 81.3 (p = 0.04), visits by non-Hispanic Whites increased from 63.1 to 73.4 (p < 0.01), and visits in the South increased from 54.4 to 71.1 (p=0.03).

Conclusion: ED visit rates for falls are increasing over time. There is a national movement to increase falls awareness and prevention. EDs are in a unique position to engage patients on future fall prevention and should consider ways they can also partake in such initiatives in a manner that is feasible and appropriate for the ED setting.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. No author has professional or financial relationships with any companies that are relevant to this study. There are no conflicts of interest or sources of funding to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fall-related ED visit rates by year, for patients 65 and older, 2003–2010.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Estimated fall-related ED visits per 1,000 compared to overall ED visits per 1,000 (65 and older)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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