Descriptive Analysis of Fatal Falls of Older Adults in a Midwestern County In the Year 2005

Abstract

Falls in older adults continues to be a serious problem worldwide. Falls are the leading cause of injury related deaths among older adults in the United States. Though, there have been many effective fall prevention programs reported, there is still a gap in the literature that addresses the effectiveness of interventions that prevent fall related deaths. The purposes of this study are to (1) carry out preliminary descriptive analyses on persons who died after a fall in the year 2005 in one Midwest county and (2) compare county data to national and international statistics. With cooperation of the County Medical Examiner, 103 death certificates and medical records of older adults who died due to complications after a fall from the year 2005 were retrospectively reviewed. Descriptive statistics were developed for: (1) demographics prior to the fall, (2) fall descriptors including activity, place of fall, and outcome of the fall, (3) outcomes after fall including: injuries incurred, cause of death, and days from fall to death. Average age of people who died after a fall was 85.4 years. More than 50% of the fatal falls occurred in the home and resulted in a hip fracture. The most common cause of death was complications of a hip fracture with an average of 31 days from fall to death. Despite the recommendations regarding fall prevention, there still is a need to investigate the significant number of fatalities after falls.