Facts About Falling

• Falls are the leading cause of death by accidental injury among people who are older than 65.

• Falls are the most common cause of hospital admissions for trauma among older Americans.

• The average health-care cost of a fall injury involving a person 72 or older was $19,440 in 1998.

• The direct and indirect costs of fall injuries are expected to reach $43.8 billion a year by 2020.

• The risk of serious injury increases with age. In 2001, people 85 or older were four to five times more likely to be injured in a fall than people 65 to 74.

• More than a third of adults 65 and older fall annually.

• Six in 10 falls occur in the home.

• Women are 67 percent more likely to suffer a nonfatal injury from a fall than men, and the odds of fall-related fractures are more than twice as high for women.

• Men are more likely to die from a fall. Adjusted for age, the fall fatality rate in 2004 was 49 percent higher for men than women.

• About half of older adults who are hospitalized after a serious fall injury can return home and live on their own afterward.

SOURCES: New England Journal of Medicine; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; National Institute on Aging