Falls and Brain Injury

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

03 Jul 2008 04:34 PM

Breaking a hip isn't the only thing to fear when an older adult has an unintentional fall. Brain injury can cause long-term problems, affect how a person functions, and even impact emotional well-being!

Some unpleasant statistics from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control study:

• Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) from a fall resulted in nearly 8,000 deaths in seniors and more than 50,000 hospitalizations in 2005. The death and hospitalization rates for TBI increase as age increases.
• The average hospital stay for an older adult with a fall-related TBI is four days.
• The average cost of a hospital stay for an older adult with a fall-related TBI is between sixteen and nineteen thousand dollars.
• Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) accounted for half of all unintentional fall deaths among older adults.
• Men had higher TBI-related death rates than women -- approximately 27 out of every 100,000 for men and approximately 18 out of 100,000 for women.

As people age, the risk of falling increases. Why? Lots of things, including mobility problems, chronic health issues, vision loss, medication side effects, and household hazards. Traumatic brain injuries (caused by an impact to the head) may be missed or misdiagnosed among senior citizens.

In the United States, falls are the leading cause of injury death and non-fatal injury in people age 65 and older. Each year, approximately one out of three seniors suffers a fall. Out of those falls, approximately thirty percent require medical treatment for injuries.

As more baby boomers approach retirement age, the number of fall-related traumatic brain injuries will go up -- unless people take action to prevent such injuries. There are lots of things you can do to help prevent falls. For example, install hand rails in hallways. Make sure clutter is cleared out of the way. Remove throw rugs that can cause tripping.

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