Hospitalisations due to falls by older people, Australia: 2009-10

This report, just published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, estimates that the number of hospitalised injury cases due to falls in people aged 65 and over in 2009-10 was 83,800-more than 5,100 extra cases than in 2008-09.  Women accounted for most of these cases  - as in the previous year, the age-standardised rate of hospitalised fall injuries involving older women exceeded 3,000 per 100,000 population.

About one-third of fall injury cases had injuries to the hip and thigh, and the majority of these were hip fractures. Head injuries accounted for 1 in 5 hospitalised cases and were proportionately more common for men than for women.  As in previous years, the most common cause of injury was a fall on the same level due to slipping, tripping and stumbling, and 70% had occurred in either the home or an aged care facility.

One in every 10 days spent in hospital by a person aged 65 and older in 2009-10 was directly attributable to an injurious fall (1.3 million patient days over the year), and the average total length of stay per fall injury case was estimated to be 15.5 days. These figures are much larger when fall-related injuries are taken into account, so the burden of falls is significant and growing.