title: The burden of hospitalised fall-related injury in community-dwelling older people in Victoria: a database study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the burden of hospitalised fall-related injury in community-dwelling older people in Victoria.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A corresponding increase in falls prevention effort is required to ensure that the burden is properly addressed.
authors.affiliation: Monash Injury Research Institute, Monash University, Victoria.
authors.forename: Trang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vu
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: Caroline F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Finch
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D014739:Victoria
keywords: falls; hospitalisation; inpatient costs; length of stay; older people