Iranian Journal of Surgery

Epidemiological Study of Traumatic Injuries Caused by Fall among the Elderly Referring to Emergency Department

Authors

SR Mousavi 1
A Kachoei 2
M Eshraghi 3
F Eshraghi 4
M Siamaki 5
M Rezaei Nayeh 6
Mahnaz Siamaki 7

1 Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Qom, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Qom

3 Associate Professor, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Qom

4 Medical Student, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Imam Khomeini Hospital

5 Resident of Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Mohammadi Hospital

6 Master of Science in Psychiatric Nursing, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Mallard Health Martyrs Hospital

7 Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Mohammadi Hospital, Hormozgan

Abstract
Introduction & Objective: Falling is considered an accident, it entails a lot of costs and potential wide physical, psychological and social consequences. Activity level and lifestyle changes in the elderly. Considering the importance of falls in the elderly, this study was conducted with the aim of epidemiological investigation of traumatic injuries caused by falls in the elderly. Materials & Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study that was conducted between 1994 and 1996 on elderly people who referred to the emergency department of Shahid Beheshti Hospital after falling. Sampling was done by census method. The medical records of all patients aged 60 years and older who referred to the emergency department of the mentioned hospital with a history of falls were included in the study. And the studied variables such as age, gender, place of residence, treatment outcomes, place of fall and how the recent incidents were entered into the checklist. Cases with distorted information and cases whose history is incomplete were excluded from the study. Finally, all information was entered into SPSS software version 22 and analyzed with a significance level of less than 0.05. Results: In this study, 182 patients (93.8%) were discharged and 12 patients (6.2%) died. A statistical relationship was found between the average age and mortality after a fall in patients (P < 0.001). But between genders (P = 0.76). Marital status (P = 0.441). The type of fall (P = 0.833), no statistically significant relationship was found with the outcome of the disease. The most type of injury is in the femur and the average duration of hospitalization of these patients is 5 to 7 days, also there are significant statistical differences between the duration of hospitalization and the type of injury (P < 0.001). The most injuries occurred in 90 cases (46.6 percent) between 12-6 AM and these injuries were observed in the femur of 39 patients (20.1 percent). Conclusions: According to the results of the present study, it seems necessary to apply measures to prevent the elderly from falling. A large number of elderly people who have fallen have been admitted to the hospital and a large percentage was hospitalized for a long time, which has brought a lot of costs to the health system. In addition, the need to implement timely measures for treatment, correct management and prevention of the consequences of trauma is felt.

Keywords

Trauma
Fall
Elderly
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Iranian Journal of Surgery
Volume 31, Winter
Winter 2024
Pages 35-42

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