According to a report ‘Hospitalizations due to falls by older people, Australia 2009-10’ recently released by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare the number of older Australians hospitalized after a fall continues to rise.
The report showed that there were 83,800 hospitalized injury cases due to falls in people aged 65 and over in that year.
‘This was around 5,100 cases more than the previous year,’ said AIHW spokesperson Professor James Harrison.
Professor Harrison explained that Women accounted for most of the hospitalized fall injury cases, making up 69% of cases. The rate of fall cases was higher for women than for men across all age groups. About one-third of fall injury cases resulted in injuries to the hip and thigh, and the majority of these were hip fractures. Head injuries accounted for one in five hospitalized cases and were more common for men than for women.
‘One in every 10 days spent in hospital by a person aged 65 and older in 2009-10 was directly attributable to a fall-related injury,’ Professor Harrison commented.