Fall-related traumatic brain injury deaths and hospitalizations among older adults — United States, 2005☆
Section snippets
Problem
Unintentional falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths and emergency department visits for U.S. adults aged ≥ 65 years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2005). Older adults also have the highest rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) deaths and hospitalizations (Rutland-Brown, Langlois, Thomas, & Xi, 2006). CDC examined the relationship between older adult falls and TBI deaths and hospitalizations using 2005 data, the most recent year of data available, from the
Method
Death data were obtained from the Mortality Multiple Cause of Death File from the NCHS NVSS. The NVSS provides a complete enumeration of all deaths in the United States (NCHS, 2008). For this report, we included all deaths that occurred among U.S. residents that had an underlying cause of death listed as an unintentional fall (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision [ICD-10] codes W00–W19) and that included one of the ICD-10 codes contained in CDC's TBI mortality case definition
Results
In 2005 there were 7,946 fall-related TBI deaths among people aged ≥ 65 years, which accounted for 50.3% of all fall-related deaths in this age group (Table 1). Death rates for fall-related TBI were higher among men than women (26.9 per 100,000 and 21.6 per 100,000, respectively). For both men and women, deaths rates increased with age (Fig. 1).
Also, there were an estimated 56,423 hospitalizations for nonfatal fall-related TBI, which accounted for 8.0% of fall-related hospitalizations (Table 1).
Discussion
This report confirms that fall-related TBI contribute substantially to mortality and morbidity among older adults. Half of unintentional fall deaths and 8% of hospitalizations for nonfatal falls were attributable to TBI. These injuries often result in long-term cognitive, emotional, and functional impairments (Rutland-Brown et al., 2006). With the aging of the U.S. population, and without intervention, the number of these injuries will likely increase.
The numbers and rates of TBI deaths and
Conclusion
CDC has developed three new resources to help prevent falls and TBI among older adults. Each incorporates four evidence-based fall prevention strategies — encouraging exercise, having medicines reviewed, having vision checked, and making homes safer. The first resource, Help Seniors Live Better, Longer: Prevent Brain Injury, (CDC, 2008) is an initiative to raise awareness among children of older adults and other caregivers about ways to prevent, recognize, and respond to fall-related TBI in
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Disclaimer: This article contains the views of the authors, and does not necessarily represent the official views or policies of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.