| Key facts
- Falls are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional
injury deaths worldwide.
- Each year an estimated 424 000 individuals die from falls
globally of which over 80% are in low- and middle-income countries.
- Adults older than 65 suffer the greatest number of fatal
falls.
37.3 million falls that are severe enough to require medical
attention, occur each year.
- Prevention strategies should emphasize education, training,
creating safer environments, prioritizing fall-related research
and establishing effective policies to reduce risk.
- A fall is defined as an event which results in a person coming
to rest inadvertently on the ground or floor or other lower
level.
- Fall-related injuries may be fatal or non-fatal1 though most
are non-fatal. For example, of children in the People's Republic
of China, for every death due to a fall, there are 4 cases of
permanent disability, 13 cases requiring hospitalization for
more than 10 days, 24 cases requiring hospitalization for 1–9
days and 690 cases seeking medical care or missing work/school.
The problem
Globally, falls are a major public health problem. An estimated
424 000 fatal falls occur each year, making it the second leading
cause of unintentional injury death, after road traffic injuries.
Over 80% of fall-related fatalities occur in low- and middle-income
countries, with regions of the Western Pacific and South East Asia
accounting for more than two thirds of these deaths. In all regions
of the world, death rates are highest among adults over the age
of 60 years.
Though not fatal, approximately 37.3 million falls
are severe enough to require medical attention occur each year.
Such falls are responsible for over 17 million DALYs (disability-adjusted
life years) lost2. The largest morbidity occurs in people aged 65
years or older, young adults aged 15–29 years and children aged
15 years or younger.
While nearly 40% of the total DALYs lost due to
falls worldwide occurs in children, this measurement may not accurately
reflect the impact of fall-related disabilities for older individuals
who have fewer life years to lose. In addition, those individuals
who fall and suffer a disability, particularly older people, are
at a major risk for subsequent long-term care and institutionalization.
The financial costs from fall-related injuries
are substantial. For people aged 65 years or older, the average
health system cost per fall injury in the Republic of Finland and
Australia are US$ 3611 and US$ 1049 respectively. Evidence from
Canada suggests the implementation of effective prevention strategies
with a subsequent 20% reduction in the incidence of falls among
children under 10 could create a net savings of over US$ 120 million
each year.
Source
Childhood and adult mortality from unintentional
falls in India
Jagnoor Jagnoor a, Wilson Suraweera b, Lisa Keay a, Rebecca
Q Ivers a, JS Thakur c, Gopalkrishna Gururaj d, Prabhat Jha b &
for the Million Death Study Collaborators
a. The George Institute for Global Health, University
of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
b. Centre for Global Health Research at St Michael’s Hospital, University
of Toronto, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, M5B 1W8, Canada.
c. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh,
India.
d. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Science, WHO Collaborating
Centre for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, Bangalore, India.
Source
Interviews
We plan to do einterviews with MBBS doctors to understand 4 things
1) Tests or questions you ask in first few meetings
2) What it means in medical terms
3) What it means in non medical terms
4) What should the patient or care takers do
We might interview Aurvedic doctors, homeopathic doctors, Yoga teachers
on this health issue
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