Falls in Geriatric Cases

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study is to examine the causes of falls and the clinical consequences of falling in elderly patients in fall-related emergency department admission. Methods: This study was conducted retrospectively on patients aged 65 and over, presenting with a fall to Health Sciences University Haydarpaşa Numune Training and Research Hospital Emergency Medicine Clinic between 01.01.2019 and 01.08.2019. Data such as demographic characteristics of the patients, systemic diseases, drug use, reason for falling, place of fall, diagnosis in the hospital were determined and these data were analyzed comparatively with each other. Results: Of the 443 patients aged 65 and over who applied to the emergency department due to falls, 246 patients who met the criteria were included in the study. One hundred forty-four (58.5%) of these patients were female. The mean age was 71.4+4.7 years. Of the patients, 104 (42.3%) fell indoors, 129 (52.4%) fell outside, and 13 (5.4%) fell on the stairs. One hundred and eighty-eight patients (77.7%) fell due to dizziness and loss of balance. Falls were more common in people with systemic disease (p=0.043). The most common diagnoses were soft tissue trauma (STT) (20.1%), fracture (14.7%) and head trauma (4.9%), respectively. There was a statistically significant correlation between the number of falls and age (p