Fall-related emergency department visits involving alcohol among older adults - ScienceDirect

Fall-related emergency department visits involving alcohol among older adults - ScienceDirect

New Falls and Alcohol Study

Fall-related Emergency Department Visits Involving Alcohol Among Older Adults—Journal of Safety Research In a new study published in the Journal of Safety Research, CDC used nationally representative emergency department (ED) data to describe and compare characteristics of older adult fall injury visits by indication of alcohol consumption.

Findings include: Alcohol data is not normally reported on ED records. Of the 38,640 ED records for older adult fall visits, only about 2% indicated alcohol use. Fall-related ED visits among older men were more likely to indicate alcohol use than ED visits among older women. Older adult fall ED visits with indication of alcohol use were twice as likely to have a traumatic brain injury compared to visits with no indication of alcohol use. What can be done: More research on the amount of alcohol consumed at the time of the fall is needed to better understand the role of alcohol as a risk factor for older adult falls.