title: Epidemiology of ambulance responses to older people who have fallen in New South Wales, Australia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantify the size and scope of the operational burden for a large ambulance service arising from older people who have fallen and to describe this population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of ambulance records from New South Wales, Australia for emergency calls classified as 'falls' in the period 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 42 331 responses to people aged 65 years or older, constituting 5.1% of total emergency workload. The median age of patients was 83 (interquartile range 76-87) and 62% were women. The transport rate was 76%. Transport to hospital was more likely during the day (odds ratio (OR) 1.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7-1.9) and on weekends (OR 1.06, 95%CI 1.0-1.1).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Falls by older people constitute approximately 5% of all emergency responses, of which one quarter are not transported to emergency department (ED) after paramedic assessment. Increasing the sophistication of ambulance dispatch processes to older people who have fallen, and continuing with the development of new models of care aimed at decreasing unnecessary transports to the EDs, should be a priority when planning ambulance service delivery for older people who have fallen.
authors.affiliation: Ambulance Service of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.forename: Jason C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bendall
authors.forename: Jillian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tiedemann
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Middleton
authors.forename: Jacqueline Ct
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Close
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D000552:Ambulances / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: accidental fall; aged; ambulance; emergency; epidemiology