@article{ref1,
title="The burden of hospitalised fall-related injury in community-dwelling older people in Victoria: a database study",
journal="Australian and New Zealand journal of public health",
year="2014",
author="Vu, Trang and Day, Lesley and Finch, Caroline F.",
volume="38",
number="2",
pages="128-133",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To estimate the burden of hospitalised fall-related injury in community-dwelling older people in Victoria. <br><br>METHODS: We analysed fall-related, person-identifying hospital discharge data and patient-level hospital treatment costs for community-dwelling older people aged 65+ years from Victoria between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2008, inclusive. Key outcomes of interest were length of stay (LOS)/episode, cumulative LOS (CLOS)/patient and inpatient costs. <br><br>RESULTS: The burden of hospitalised fall-related injury in community-dwelling older people aged 65+ years in Victoria was 284,781 hospital bed days in 2005-06, rising to 310,031 hospital bed days in 2007-08. Seventy-one per cent of episodes were multiday. One in 15 acute care episodes was a high LOS outlier and 14% of patients had ≥1 episode classified as high LOS outlier. The median CLOS/patient was nine days (interquartile range 2-27). The annual costs of inpatient care, in June 2009 prices, for fall-related injury in community-dwelling people aged 65+ years in Victoria rose from $213 million in 2005-06 to $237 million in 2007-08. The burden of hospitalised fall-related injury in community-dwelling older women, people aged 85+ years and those with comorbidity was considerable. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The burden of hospitalised fall-related injury in community-dwelling older people aged 65+ years in Victoria is significantly more than previously projected. Importantly, this study identifies that women, patients with comorbidity and those aged 85+ years account for a considerable proportion of this burden. Implications: A corresponding increase in falls prevention effort is required to ensure that the burden is properly addressed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1326-0200",
doi="10.1111/1753-6405.12156",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12156"
}