National Center for Health Information, Ministry of Health, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Jul 10;21(1):1364. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11358-8.
Accidental falls are a major cause of morbidity placing pressure on hospital capacity and utilizing costly services. Evaluating the burden of falls is key for planning, implementation, and evaluation of prevention strategies. To date, no studies have been published on accidental falls at the population level in Kuwait. We studied the burden of accidental falls on public hospital inpatient capacity in Kuwait and identified the subgroups with the highest utilization of inpatient service days.
From the national database of inpatient hospitalizations, we selected hospitalizations of patients admitted to Kuwait's public hospitals for unintentional injury caused by an accidental fall from 1 January through 31 December 2016. We studied the number of inpatient service days (bed days), length of stay (LOS), and number of hospitalizations by age group, gender, and nationality. Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Chi square tests were used for comparison. Logistic regression was used to quantify the risk of prolonged LOS and fractures among fall-related hospitalizations.
Accidental falls were responsible for 2.9% of inpatient hospitalizations, 3.7% of inpatient service days (61,140 days) with an ALOS of 9.1 days in Kuwait's public hospitals in 2016. Accidental falls were responsible for 4.6% of older adult service days, and an even higher 5.6% of older women service days. In the age group 13-64, fall-related service days for non-Kuwaitis (5.7%) were more than triple those for Kuwaitis (1.8%) with a substantial percentage among male non-Kuwaitis (8.1%). The risk factors for exceeding the national ALOS for fall-related hospitalizations were female gender (OR 1.36), age 65 and older (OR 9.72), age 13-64 (OR 5.20), being non-Kuwaiti (OR 1.39), sustaining a femur fracture (OR 11.67), and undergoing surgery (OR 2.63). Fall-related hospitalizations associated with a higher risk of fractures were females (OR 1.22), patients 65 years and older (OR 5.09), patients aged 13-64 (OR 3.65), and non-Kuwaitis (OR 1.28).
Accidental falls impose a considerable burden on inpatient service utilization in Kuwait. This varies by age, gender, and nationality. To reduce this burden, prevention programs should target working-age non-Kuwaiti males and older females.
意外伤害是导致发病的主要原因，给医院的承载能力带来压力，也消耗了大量的服务资源。评估跌倒负担是规划、实施和评估预防策略的关键。迄今为止，在科威特还没有关于人口水平意外伤害跌倒的研究。我们研究了意外伤害跌倒对科威特公立医院住院病人容量的影响，并确定了住院服务天数利用率最高的亚组。
我们从国家住院病人数据库中选择了 2016 年 1 月 1 日至 12 月 31 日期间因意外伤害导致跌倒而入住科威特公立医院的病人住院治疗数据。我们研究了按年龄组、性别和国籍划分的住院服务天数（床日）、住院时间（ LOS ）和住院人数。采用 Mann-Whitney 、 Kruskal-Wallis 和 Chi square 检验进行比较。采用 logistic 回归来量化与跌倒相关的住院治疗中 LOS 延长和骨折的风险。
2016 年，意外伤害占科威特公立医院住院病人的 2.9%，占住院服务天数（61140 天）的 3.7%，平均住院时间（ LOS ）为 9.1 天。意外伤害占老年病人服务天数的 4.6%，老年女性服务天数的 5.6%。在 13-64 岁年龄组中，非科威特人因跌倒相关服务天数（5.7%）是科威特人的三倍多（1.8%），其中非科威特男性的比例很高（8.1%）。与跌倒相关的住院治疗超过全国平均 LOS 的危险因素包括女性（OR 1.36）、年龄 65 岁及以上（OR 9.72）、年龄 13-64 岁（OR 5.20）、非科威特人（OR 1.39）、股骨骨折（OR 11.67）和手术（OR 2.63）。与跌倒相关的住院治疗与骨折风险较高相关的因素包括女性（OR 1.22）、65 岁及以上患者（OR 5.09）、13-64 岁患者（OR 3.65）和非科威特人（OR 1.28）。
意外伤害给科威特的住院服务利用带来了相当大的负担。这种负担因年龄、性别和国籍而异。为了减轻这种负担，预防计划应针对工作年龄的非科威特男性和老年女性。
