Older Adult Falls in Emergency Medicine, 2023 Update

Kalpana N Shankar; Angel Li

doi:10.1016/j.cger.2023.05.010

Older Adult Falls in Emergency Medicine, 2023 Update

Clin Geriatr Med. 2023 Nov;39(4):503-518. doi: 10.1016/j.cger.2023.05.010. Epub 2023 Jul 6.

Authors

Kalpana N Shankar¹, Angel Li²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Neville House, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: knshankar@mgb.org.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, The Ohio State University, 376 West 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.

PMID: 37798062
DOI: 10.1016/j.cger.2023.05.010

Abstract

Of 4 older adults, 1 will fall each year in the United States. Based on 2020 data from the Centers of Disease Control, about 36 million older adults fall each year, resulting in 32,000 deaths. Emergency departments see about 3 million older adults for fall-related injuries with falls having the ability to cause serious injury such as catastrophic head injuries and hip fractures. One-third of older fall patients discharged from the ED experience one of these outcomes at 3 months.

Keywords: Accidental fall; Emergency medical services; Emergency medicine; Falls prevention; Geriatric; Implementation; Technology; Trauma.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Aged
Emergency Medicine*
Emergency Service, Hospital
Hip Fractures*
Humans
Risk Factors
United States / epidemiology