Impact of falls

Falls can have a variety of outcomes ranging from no or minor injury, to serious injury or death for individuals, and significant impacts on healthcare systems.

Impacts on the individual

Physical injuries

• Pain
• Bruising
• Scratches and other superficial wounds
• Haematomas
• Lacerations
• Fractures
• Intracranial bleeding, head trauma, traumatic brain injuries

Even falls not resulting in physical injury can instil a concern about falling. This can result in:

• Self-imposed limitation on activity
• Commencing a cycle of decreasing functional ability
• Loss of independence

Falls may be the first and main indication of another underlying condition in an individual. Falls resulting in fractures can be an indication of osteoporosis. A low trauma fracture warrants investigation for osteoporosis. Anyone aged 50 years and over who sustains a low trauma fracture (that is as a result of a slip, trip or fall from standing height or less) is at increased risk of further fractures and falls.

Falls that occur in hospital are associated with increased:

• length of stay
• use of health resources
• rates of discharge to a nursing home.

A history of falls increases the likelihood of falling again.

Impact on the health system

Falls are the second most common cause of unintentional injury-related deaths worldwide, resulting in approximately 684,000 fatalities annually (external link).

The Injury Matters Falls Report (2023) highlights the frequent and growing impact of falls on the Western Australian community (external link) There are several pertinent statistics:

• A Western Australian died every 19 hours in 2020, was hospitalised every 15 minutes in 2021 and attended the emergency department every 11 minutes in 2021 due to a falls-related injury.
• The 33,252 falls-related hospitalisations in 2021 resulted in 255,372 hospital bed days and cost an estimated $310,987,115.
• On average 7.7 days was spent in hospital per falls-related admission in 2021.
• Females experienced a higher rate of falls-related hospitalisations and emergency department attendances than males in 2021.
• Residents in regional WA continue to experience a high burden of falls, with the highest rate of falls-related hospital admissions recorded in the Kimberley.

Western Australia is experiencing increasing trends in falls and fall-related injuries (external link).There has been a:

• 38 per cent increase in falls-related fatalities (2016 to 2020)
• 26 per cent increase in falls-related hospitalisations (2017 to 2021)
• 10 per cent increase in falls-related ED attendances (2017 to 2021).