Trends in Fall-Related Hospital Admissions in Older Persons in the Netherlands

Background: Fall-related injuries, hospitalizations, and mortality among older persons represent a major public health problem Owing to aging societies worldwide, a major impact on fall-related health care demand can be expected We determined time trends in numbers and incidence of fall-related hospital admissions and in admission duration in older adults Methods: Secular trend analysis of fall-related hospital admissions in the older Dutch population from 1981 through 2008, using the National Hospital Discharge Registry All fall-related hospital admissions In persons 65 years or older were extracted from this database Outcome measures were the numbers, and the age-specific and age-adjusted incidence rates (per 10000 persons) of fall-related hospital admissions in each year of the study Results: From 1981 through 2008, fall-related hospital admissions Increased by 137% The annual age-adjusted incidence growth was 1.3% for men vs 0.7% for women (P< 001) The overall incidence rate increased from 87 7 to 141 2 per 10 000 persons (an increase of 61%) Age-specific incidence increased in all age groups, in both men and women, especially in the oldest old (>75 years) Although the incidence of fall-related hospital admissions increased, the total number of fall-related hospital days was reduced by 20% owing to a reduction in admission duration Conclusions: In the Netherlands, numbers of fall-related hospital admissions among older persons increased drastically from 1981 through 2008 The increasing fall-related health care demand has been compensated for by a reduced admission duration These figures demonstrate the need for implementation of falls prevention programs to control for increases of fall-related health care consumption