Falls and Injury Prevention

About every two minutes in Ontario, at least one older adult over the age of 65 visits an emergency department due to a fall.  In fact, falls are the leading cause of injury among older adults.[1] In 2010, it was estimated that falls cost Canadians $8.7 billion making it costlier than any other injury.[2] In 2017 in our community, fall-related injuries account for 33% of all injury-related emergency visits. The rate of hospitalization in Windsor Essex County was greater than the combined rate for the next five leading causes of injuries. Those hospitalized in Windsor-Essex from 2004-2013 for a fall-related injury will spend an average of 13.0 days in the hospital. In Windsor-Essex County, 20% of all injury-related mortalities are due to a fall.[3]

The good news is that most falls are predictable and preventable.

References

[1] Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network Regional Fall Prevention Current State Discussion Paper, November 2018

[2] https://parachute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Cost_of_Injury-2015.pdf

[3]https://www.wechu.org/sites/default/files/reports-and-statistics/Injury_Profile_of_Windsor_and_Essex_County_December_2015_ACCESSIBLE.pdf