Injury in Australia - Falls Statistics and Prevention

 A recent report "Injury in Australia" by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare highlights that falls were overwhelmingly the the single contributor to hospitalisations in the year 2020-21. The majority of falls occurred on a single level surface, not stairs as many may think. In 2019 to 2020 over 5000 people sadly died as a result of a fall.

People aged 65 and over were more likely to be hospitalised or die because of a fall compared with other age groups. Females are more likely than males to be hospitalised or die as a result of a fall. Read on in the linked website for more information.

Falls prevention should be at the forefront of the minds of  anyone working with people in the at risk age group. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare have produced a guideline, Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls in older People : Best Practice guidelines for Australian Hospitals. 

To assist in your efforts to help your patients or clients, the library has complied a brief list of references that may be useful. Links to the full-text articles where available are provided, otherwise MNCLHD staff are able to request the article from the library. MNCLHD staff can contact the library for a more comprehensive search or further information.

Delbaere, K., Valenzuela, T., Lord, S. R., Clemson, L., Zijlstra, G. A. R., Close, J. C. T., . . . van Schooten, K. S. (2021). E-health StandingTall balance exercise forfall prevention in older people: results of a two year randomised controlledtrial. BMJ, 373, n740. doi:10.1136/bmj.n740

 

Jehu, D. A., Davis, J. C., Falck, R. S., Bennett, K. J., Tai, D., Souza, M. F., . . . Liu-Ambrose, T. (2021). Risk factors for recurrent falls in older adults: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Maturitas, 144, 23-28. doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2020.10.021

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Lee, J., Negm, A., Peters, R., Wong, E. K. C., & Holbrook, A. (2021). Deprescribing fall-riskincreasing drugs (FRIDs) for the prevention of falls and fall-relatedcomplications: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open, 11(2), e035978. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035978

 

Lucas Molitor, W., Feldhacker, D. R., Lohman, H., Lampe, A. M., & Jensen, L. (2022). Occupational Therapy and the IMPACT Act: Part 1. A Systematic Review of Evidence for Fall Prevention and Reduction, Community Discharge and Reintegration, and Readmission Prevention Interventions. Am J Occup Ther, 76(1). doi:10.5014/ajot.2022.049044

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Montero-Odasso, M., van der Velde, N., Alexander, N. B., Becker, C., Blain, H., Camicioli, R., . . . Masud, T. (2021). New horizons in falls prevention and management for older adults: a global initiative. Age Ageing, 50(5), 1499-1507. doi:10.1093/ageing/afab076

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Morris, M. E., Webster, K., Jones, C., Hill, A. M., Haines, T., McPhail, S., . . . Cameron, I. (2022). Interventions to reduce falls in hospitals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Age Ageing, 51(5). doi:10.1093/ageing/afac077

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Sherrington, C., Fairhall, N., Wallbank, G., Tiedemann, A., Michaleff, Z. A., Howard, K., . . . Lamb, S. (2020). Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community: an abridged Cochrane systematic review. Br J Sports Med, 54(15), 885-891. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2019-101512

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