title: Epidemiology, morbidity and mortality from fall-related injuries in the United Arab Emirates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Unintentional falls are a major cause of morbidity and mortality with a significant burden on victims, families, and societies. We aimed to study the mechanism, risk factors, and outcome of hospitalized patients with fall-related injuries in order to propose preventive measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fall-related injured patients who were admitted to Al Ain Hospital, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for more than 24 hours or who died after arrival to the hospital, were studied over 3 years. Demography, location and time of injury, affected body regions, hospital and ICU stay, and outcome were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  882 patients were studied, 82% were males, and 22% were less than 19 years old. Majority were from the Indian subcontinent. The most common location for fall injuries was work. Patients injured at work were older and mainly non-UAE nationals (p < 0.0001) when compared with those injured at home. Patients falling from height, when compared with those falling from same level, were older (p = 0.017), had more males (p < 0.001), were mainly from the Indian subcontinent (p < 0.001), had higher ISS (p = 0.011) and longer total hospital stay (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Falls are a major health problem in the UAE. Falls at work can be prevented by safety education tailored to different ethnic groups, and proper legislation and regulation. Environmental modification using evidence-based architectural design may prevent falls among vulnerable risk groups.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grivna
authors.forename: Hani O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Eid
authors.affiliation: Trauma Group, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. fabuzidan@uaeu.ac.ae.
authors.forename: Fikri M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Abu-Zidan
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014479:United Arab Emirates / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult