Objective To examine the prevalence of falls and fall-related injuries in Chinese community elderly populations and to provide references for developing relevant intervention measures.
Methods The information on demographics and falls/fall-related injuries during past one year for 21 084 urban and rural residents aged 60 years and above were extracted from the database of Prevention and Intervention on Neurodegenerative Disease for Elderly in China (PINDEC) project, which was conducted in 6 provincial level regions (Beijing, Shanghai, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxi) across China from July through October 2018. Statistical analyses were carried out on the data using SAS 9.3.
Results Among all the elderly, 2 979 reported falls during past one year and the falls prevalence rate was 14.7% after complex weighting; the falls prevalence rate differed significantly by gender, age, education, marital status, occupation, employment, and residential region (P < 0.001 for all). Of the elderly with falls during past one year, 2 252 had fall-related injuries, with a complex weighted ratio of 79.5%; the injury ratio varied significantly among the elderly of different gender, age, education, occupation, employment, and residential region (all P < 0.01). In the 2 252 self-reported fall-related injuries, the number (complex weighted proportion) was 1 472 (70.1%) for bruise, 242 (10.0%) for hand/arm fracture, 101 (4.6%) for femoral head fracture, 89 (2.4%) for hip fracture, 167 (7.0%) for head injury, and 416 (15.3%) for other types of injuries, respectively.
Conclusion Among community elderly in China, both the prevalence of falls and the occurrence of fall-related injuries are relatively high and bruise is a major type of fall-related injuries.
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