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 10,000 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.
Hartholt
Klaas A
KA
Section of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
van der Velde
Nathalie
N
Looman
Caspar W N
CW
van Lieshout
Esther M M
EM
Panneman
Martien J M
MJ
van Beeck
Ed F
EF
Patka
Peter
P
van der Cammen
Tischa J M
TJ
D000058:Accidental Falls; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors