Analysis on epidemiologic characteristics of fall in old people: results from Chinese National Injury Surveillance System, 2015-2018

Objective: To understand the epidemiologic characteristics of fall in people aged 60 years and above in China from 2015 to 2018, and provide basis for the prevention of fall in old people and the development of related policies. Methods: Descriptive analysis was conducted on general information, injury occurrence information and injury clinical characteristics of fall cases in people aged 60 years and above by using the data from Chinese National Injury Surveillance System(NISS). Results: A total of 205 670 fall cases were reported to NISS from 2015 to 2018 with the male to female ratio of 1.37. Falls mainly occurred during 10:00-10:59 am (11.91%). The top three places where fall might occur were home (56.41%), road (17.24%) and public residence (14.36%). Leisure activity(37.56%), housework (24.20%) and walk (15.07%) were top three activities in which fall occurred. Bruise/scrape (42.17%), fracture (31.79%) and sprain/strain (14.62%) were the major injuries. The most common body parts involved were low limbs (31.38%), head (22.46%) and truncus(20.71%). Moderate and severe injuries accounted for 37.21% of all cases, and 22.49% of the elderly seeking medical care due to fall required hospitalization. Conclusions: The number of fall in people aged 60 years and above increased from 2015 to 2018. The elderly is a key population in the prevention and control of fall.