Injury Diagnosis and Affected Body Part for Nonfatal Fall-Related Injuries in Community-Dwelling Older Adults Treated in Emergency Departments - Yara K. Haddad, Iju Shakya, Briana L. Moreland, Ramakrishna Kakara, Gwen Bergen, 2020

Injury Diagnosis and Affected Body Part for Nonfatal Fall-Related Injuries in Community-Dwelling Older Adults Treated in Emergency Departments - Yara K. Haddad, Iju Shakya, Briana L. Moreland, Ramakrishna Kakara, Gwen Bergen, 2020

Injury Diagnosis and Affected Body Part for Nonfatal Fall-related Injuries in Community-dwelling Older Adults Treated in Emergency Departments—Journal of Aging and Health

A recent CDC article, published in the Journal of Aging and Health, explores the differences in type and severity of injuries older adults sustain after a fall that required an ED visit. Understanding how fall injuries vary by different characteristics can help identify subsets of older adults at higher risk for severe injuries and inform targeted prevention strategies

Findings include :

• About a third of fall-related ED visits required hospitalizations.
• Hospitalization for fall-related ED visits increased with advancing age and was higher for falls that occurred indoors compared to outdoors.
• Fall-related ED visits were most common among older community-dwelling women (65%).
• The most common fall related injury was a fracture or dislocation (35%) and the most common body part injured was the head (26%).
• Most head injuries (70%) were identified as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

What can be done: Further studies on gender-specific fracture risks are needed to understand fall risk factors. While fall injuries in older adults are a common and serious health concern, falls can be prevented. To prevent falls, providers can use CDC’s Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries (STEADI) initiative.