Newswise — The risk of dying from injuries
is increasing for Americans ages 65 and
older according to a new report from the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health’s Center for Injury Research and
Policy.
The report found significant increases in
death rates from falls (42 percent
increase), machinery (46 percent increase),
motorcycle crashes (145 percent increase)
and unintentional poisoning (34 percent
increase).
The results are published in the February
issue of Injury
Prevention and
are available online at the journal’s
website.
“Our findings reveal significant increases
in death rates from several different injury
causes,” said study co-author Susan P.
Baker, MPH, a professor with the Bloomberg
School’s Center for Injury Research and
Policy. “While the overall change in injury
mortality among persons 65 and older was
small, this study identifies important
causes worthy of further investigation.”
The overall change in injury mortality for
individuals aged 65 years and older during
2002-2006 was three percent. In contrast,
the rate of deaths attributed to falls
increased by at least 38 percent in all
racial/ethnic groups, with the greatest
increase seen in whites (45 percent).
Significant declines occurred in the rate of
deaths attributed to motor vehicle crashes,
suffocation and suicide.
“We know injuries are taking a toll on older
adults. This research helps us to build upon
our knowledge and translate science into
effective programs and policies that prevent
these injuries and minimize the consequences
of injuries when they occur,” said Grant
Baldwin, PhD, MPH, Director of the Division
of Unintentional Injury Prevention at the
National Center for Injury Prevention and
Control, part of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga.
The study also looked at changes in
emergency department (ED) visits, and found
that despite the significant increase in
fatal falls, there has been no significant
increase in fall-related admissions among
the study population. The authors speculate
this could be attributed to a trend in
recent years to report the underlying cause
of death as a fall. In addition, many
elderly people are now living longer with
conditions that may predispose them to
falls.
“Alcohol is another contributing risk factor
worthy of consideration,” added senior
author Guoqing Hu, PhD. “Given the
association between alcohol and injury,
recent documented increases in alcohol
problems among the elderly may be another
partial explanation for the increase in
severe falls.”
Hu and Baker accessed data from the CDC
Web-based Injury Statistics Query and
Reporting System (WISQARS), which provides
data on deaths and hospital emergency
department-treated injuries according to
cause and intent of injury. WISQARS
mortality data are based on annual data from
the National Vital Statistics System of the
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC). WISQARS non-fatal injury
data are based on annual nationally
representative nonfatal injury data of the
National Electronic Injury Surveillance
System-All Injury Program operated by the
Consumer Product Safety Commission in
collaboration with the National Center for
Injury Prevention and Control (CDC).
Support for this research was provided by
the National Center for Injury Prevention
and Control, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, through a grant to the Johns
Hopkins Center for Injury Research and
Policy.
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