title: Elderly victims of falls seen by prehospital care: gender differences.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify elderly who are victims of falls, according to gender, who received care from prehospital services of Maringá, Paraná.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional exploratory study carried out with 1,444 elderly patients who suffered falls in Maringá in the period from 2006 to 2008. Data were gathered from prehospital care services, typed and processed using the Epi Info 6.04d®. The χ² test was used to compare the falls in relation to gender (significance level = 0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of falls according to gender presented similar percentages, 51.0% for males and 49.0% for females. Significant differences between genders were observed regarding age (p < 0.001), presence of alcohol breath (p < 0.001), type of fall (p < 0.001), place of fall (p < 0.001), treatment at hospital (p = 0.023), number of injuries (p = 0.014), type of injury (p < 0.001) and injury location (p <0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show that falls happen differently among the elderly when considering gender. It highlights the importance of understanding these differences in detail and the circumstances in which the fall occurred, since this knowledge is key to plan preventive actions.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermagem, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: William Campo
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Meschial
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermagem, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Dorotéia Fátima Pelissari de Paula
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermagem, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Nelson Luiz Batista
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermagem, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Alice Milani
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Nespollo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Geografia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Wesley Alexandre
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Geografia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Monte Carmelo, MG, Brasil.
authors.forename: Fernando Luiz de Paula
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Santil
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution