1,014 elderly people (65 years and over) died from accidental
falls in Australia in 1998, according to a report released today by
the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Falls by the Elderly in Australia: Trends and Data for
1998 also shows that there were over 45,000 hospitalisations
due to fall-related injuries in that year.
In fact, falls accounted for 54% of injury-related
hospitalisations for this age group.
Report co-author Dr Raymond Cripps, from the AIHW's National
Injury Surveillance Unit at Flinders University, said that the
figures, in conjunction with the ageing of the Australian
population, clearly showed that prevention of falls in the elderly
was a serious public health issue.
'The total number of elderly people increased by at least 17%
during the 1990s, with especially large increases in the oldest
groups, which our data show are at the highest risk of injury and
deaths from falls.
'In terms of deaths, the oldest age group (85+) has 40 times the
risk of the 65 to 69-year-olds.
'In terms of hospitalisations for falls, the numbers increase
rapidly with age. There is a nine-fold increase in the rate for
both men and women between 65 years of age and 85+ years of
age.'
Other findings of the report include:
- the female to male ratio of hospitalisations due to accidental
falls in people aged 65 and over was 3:1.
- women aged 65 and over had a 2.8 times higher risk of fractures
due to falls than men.
- there is little difference in death rates due to falls between
elderly men and women. Men actually have a higher death rate for
the 75-79 age group.
- 48% of accidental falls leading to hospitalisation occur in the
home.
16 November 2001
Further information: Dr Raymond Cripps, AIHW
National Injury Surveillance Unit, tel. 08 8374 0970
Media copies of the report: Publications Officer,
AIHW, tel. 02 6244 1032
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability.