Fall-Related Injuries in Older People in Kashan

Falls in the elderly cause a variety of injuries and may lead to dependency, lower self-efficacy, depression, limitation in daily activities, hospitalization, admission to a nursing home and cost to the individual and community. The present study was conducted to determine the types of injuries from falls in the elderly. In this cross-sectional study, all patients aged 60 years and older who were hospitalized due to fall in Shahid Beheshti Hospital in 2011 were investigated. External cause codes w00-w19 based on International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) related to fall were selected from the hospital health information system, and the patient records, demographic variables, external causes of injury and type of injury were extracted. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Relationship between duration of hospitalization and background variables were evaluated using chi-square test, t-test, ANOVA or nonparametric equivalents. A significance level of 0.05 was considered. A total of 251 patients aged 60 years and older were studied that 127 of them (50.6%) were women. The mean age of the patients was 76.82 ± 7.3 years. Fall on the ground was the most common type of injury (78%) and upper limb fractures (44.1%), lower limb fractures (28.9%) and head injuries (15.9%) were the most common types of injuries. The total number of hospitalization days was 1425 and mean of hospitalization was 5.68 ± 4.5 days. The most frequent injuries are fractures of the upper limb, lower limbs and head injuries that caused the greatest length of stay and cost of hospitalization in the elderly.