2017 Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages 43-51
【Purpose】The aim of this study was to investigate and clarify the locations, causes, and resulting injury sites of falls by community-dwelling older adults based on 8 years of emergency dispatch records from 2008 to 2015 held by the fire departments in an industrial city with a population of 310,000 and aging rate of 24.5%．
【Method】Words and phrases related to 1) fall location, 2) cause of fall, and 3) site of injury were extracted, sorted, and tabulated for 3,721 individuals (mean age, 80.7 ± 7.7 years) from emergency dispatch records taken by ambulance attendants. From the tabulations, ratios were calculated for the cause of the fall and the site of injury from the fall for falls in rooms and on roads, respectively. Chi-square tests were performed to test for differences in ratios between falls in rooms and falls on roads with a significance level of p ＜ 0.05.
【Results】Of the 3,721 subjects, 1,552 fell in rooms (mean age, 82.0 ± 7.5 years) and 583 fell on roads (mean age, 78.4 ± 6.8 years). Separated by sex, 1,072 women (mean age, 82.8 ± 7.5 years) and 480 men (mean age, 80.1 ± 7.2 years) fell in rooms. Meanwhile, 268 women (mean age, 79.7 ± 6.9 years) and 315 men (mean age, 77.4 ± 6.6 years) fell on roads. Ratios for cause of fall and site of injury were calculated for falls in rooms and on roads, respectively. For falls in rooms, causes of the fall were stumbling (24.0%), dizziness (22.4%), and slipping (20.6%). For falls on roads, causes were stumbling (44.8%), dizziness (21.5%), and slipping (10.4%). Chi-square tests for differences in ratios between groups revealed significant differences for slipping and stumbling (p ＜ 0.01). No difference in the ratio of dizziness was evident between groups. For falls in rooms, the site of injury was the head (22.4%), arm (9.7%), lower back (27.5%), leg (33.5%), and unknown (6.8%). For falls on roads, the site of injury was the head (60.7%), arm (12.5%), lower back (4.9%), leg (12.1%), and unknown (9.8%). Ratios between two groups differed significantly (p ＜ 0.05, p ＜ 0.01).
【Conclusion】In rooms, older women fell more frequently and the site of injury was most often the leg or lower back. On roads, men fell more frequently and the site of injury was most often the head.
