Hospitalisations and deaths due to unintentional falls at home among working-aged New Zealanders.

AIMS

To describe the incidence and characteristics of unintentional fall-related injuries at home resulting in death or hospital inpatient treatment among working-aged New Zealanders.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Relevant data on all individuals aged 25-59 years meeting the case definition (using ICD-9-AM E codes E880-886, 888, and ICD-10-AM E codes W00-19) were obtained from the national morbidity (1993-2004) and mortality (1993-2002) databases compiled by the New Zealand Health Information Service.

RESULTS

Almost one-third of unintentional falls resulting in injury and a subsequent in-patient admission among working-age people were reported to occur at home. This is likely to be an underestimate as the place of occurrence of approximately one-third of falls resulting in a hospital admission was not documented. The average annual mortality rate from unintentional falls at home was 0.41 per 100,000 (95% CI 0.32-0.51) while the primary hospitalisation rate was more than 100-fold greater at 52.0 per 100,000 (95% CI 51.1-53.0). Rates of admission to hospital following a fall at home were three to four-fold greater among people aged 55-59 years compared to those aged 25-29 years.

CONCLUSION

A significant proportion of unintentional fall-related injuries among the working-age population occur at home. Until the aetiology of fall-related injury in this age group is better understood, future research should focus on identifying modifiable risk factors that can be targeted to reduce the burden of these injuries and their consequences in a context where the adverse impact on economic productivity is particularly high.