The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released a report that indicates a steady increase in the number of older Australians requiring hospitalisation following a fall.

 

The Hospitalisations due to falls in older people, Australia 2009-09 found that there were 78,6000 hospitalised injury cases due to falls in people aged 65 over in that period, a 4,000 increase from the 2007-08 year.

 

Women made up most of the hospitalisations for falls, and the rate of fall cases was higher for women than for men across all older age groups.

 

“The rate of hospitalised falls for older women is now more than 3,000 per 100,000 older women, continuing the steady increase observed since 1999–00,” AIHW spokersperson Professor James Harrison said.

 

About one-third of fall injury cases involved injuries to the hip and thigh, and the majority of these were hip fractures.

 

“Despite a decrease in the rate of hospitalised hip fractures among older people over the 10 years to June 2009, the number of hospitalisations due to falls in older people is rising,’” Professor Harrison said.

 

Head injuries accounted for about one in five cases and were more common for men than women.

 

“Falls resulting in head injuries increased at a particularly high rate between 1999 and 2009,” Professor Harrison said.

 

Falls on the same level due to slipping, tripping, or stumbling (rather than, for instance, a fall involving furniture or stairs) were the most common cause of a hospitalised fall injury.

 

The majority (about 70%) of hospitalised falls occurred in either the home or an aged care facility. Older people who lived in aged care facilities had a rate of falls nearly six times as high as that for people of the same age who lived in the community and fell in their home.

 

The report can be found here