title: Prevalence, circumstances and consequences of falls among community-dwelling older people: results of the 2009 NSW Falls Prevention Baseline Survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the prevalence, circumstances and consequences of falls among community-dwelling older people in NSW using data from the 2009 NSW Falls Prevention Baseline Survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Telephone interviews with a random sample of 5681 NSW residents aged 65 years and over were conducted in 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of those surveyed, 25.6% reported falling in the last year. Of those who fell, 61.2% fell once, 21.4% fell twice, 7.8% fell three times, and 9.5% fell four or more times in the last year. Sixty-six percent of those who fell in the last year were injured and 20.0% visited a hospital as a result of a fall. The most common injuries were cuts, grazes or bruises (71.0%) and sprains or strains (9.9%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this survey are consistent with previous findings in the published fall injury prevention literature. The results from the survey will assist in the design of community oriented fall injury prevention strategies and will form the baseline measure for the evaluation of the impact of these strategies in NSW.
authors.affiliation: The Sax Institute, Australia. andrew.milat@saxinstitute.org.au
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Milat
authors.forename: Wendy L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Monger
authors.forename: Margo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barr
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giffin
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reid
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*