BACKGROUND

Injurious falls represent a significant public health burden. Research and polices have primarily focused on falls occurring indoors despite evidence that outdoor falls account for 47-58% of all falls requiring some medical attention. This study compared the clinical trauma severity of indoor versus outdoor injurious falls requiring Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response.

METHODS

Using the 2019 National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) dataset, we identified the location of patients injured from falls that required EMS response. We classified injury severity using 1) the Revised Trauma Score for Triage (T-RTS): ≤ 11 indicated the need for transport to a Trauma Center; 2) Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS): ≤8 and 9-12 indicated moderate and severe neurologic injury; and 3) patient clinical acuity by EMS: Dead, Critical, Emergent, Low.

RESULTS

Of 1,854,909 encounters for patients with injurious falls, the vast majority occurred indoors (=1,596,860) compared to outdoors (=152,994). The proportions of patients with moderate or severe GCS scores, were comparable between those with indoor falls (3.0%) and with outdoor falls on streets or sidewalks (3.8%), T-RTS scores indicating need for transport to a Trauma Center (5.2% vs 5.9%) and EMS acuity rated as Emergent or Critical (27.7% vs 27.1%).Injurious falls were more severe among male patients compared to females: and males injured by falling on streets or sidewalks had higher percentages for moderate or severe GCS scores (4.8% vs 3.6%) and T-RTS scores indicating the need for transport to a Trauma Center (7.3% vs 6.5%) compared to indoor falls. Young and middle-aged patients whose injurious falls occurred on streets or sidewalks were more likely to have a T-RTS score indicating the need for Trauma Center care compared to indoor falls among this subgroup. Yet older patients injured by falling indoors were more likely to have a T-RTS score indicating the need for Trauma Center than older patients who fell on streets or sidewalks.

CONCLUSIONS

There was a similar proportion of patients with severe injurious falls that occurred indoors and on streets or sidewalks. These findings suggest the need to determine outdoor environmental risks for outdoor falls to support location-specific interventions.