Association between treatment or usual care region and hospitalization for fall-related traumatic brain injury in the Connecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the association between the treatment region (TR) or usual care region (UCR) of the Connecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention (CCFP), a clinical intervention for prevention of falls, and the rate of hospitalization for fall-related traumatic brain injury (FR-TBI) in persons aged 70 and older and to describe the Medicare charges for FR-TBI hospitalizations.

DESIGN

Using a quasi-experimental design, rates of hospitalization for FR-TBI were recorded over an 8-year period (2000-2007) in two distinct geographic regions (TR and UCR) chosen for their similarity in characteristics associated with occurrence of falls.

SETTING

Two geographical regions in Connecticut.

PARTICIPANTS

More than 200,000 persons aged 70 and older.

INTERVENTION

Clinicians in the TR translated research protocols from the Yale Frailty and Injuries: Cooperative Studies of Intervention Techniques, a successful fall-prevention randomized clinical trial, into discipline- and site-specific fall-prevention procedures for integration into their clinical practices.

MEASUREMENTS

Rate of hospitalization for FR-TBI in persons aged 70 and older.

RESULTS

Connecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention's TR exhibited lower rates of hospitalization for FR-TBI than the UCR (risk ratio = 0.84, 95% credible interval = 0.72-0.99).

CONCLUSION

The significantly lower rate of hospitalization for FR-TBI in CCFP's TR suggests that the engagement of practicing clinicians in the implementation of evidence-based fall-prevention practices may reduce hospitalizations for FR-TBI.