Health Secrets	UPDATED: Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Print This Page Email This Story Add to Favorites

10% of All Emergency Room Visits-How to Avoid This Danger

Posted on Sunday, January 01, 2006

By Wendy J. Meyeroff
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

“According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, more than onethird of people age 65 and over fall each year, accounting for 10 percent of the visits to the emergency room among this age group. About one in 20 falls results in serious injury such as a fracture or closed head injury,” says John Parrish, Ph.D., executive director for the Erickson Foundation.

That doesn’t even begin to convey the dangers that falling presents to people age 65 and older. Older people who fall are likely to be less active physically. That leads to less strength (making you more accidentprone) and more social isolation, leading to other problems. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says falls are responsible for 70 percent of accidental deaths in persons age 75 and older.

What Causes Falls?

Among the factors that precipitate falls among people age 65 and older:

Inner ear problems affect balance.
Medications cause dizziness.
Hypotension, the sudden lowering of blood pressure, causes dizziness and falling when someone tries to stand.
Impaired mobility issues.
Tripping over thresholds or while getting in and out of showers and tubs.
Vision problems. It’s easy to trip over something you don’t see.

The BEST Results

In 2001, the Erickson Foundation launched a program to determine the causes of falls among people age 65-plus to see if falls could be prevented.

Called BEST (Balance, Exercise, Strength, Today!), it was implemented among residents at the Charlestown community in Catonsville, Md., built and managed by Erickson. It determined who might be “fall-prone” and then educated those people in methods to prevent falling.

Health Secrets

More Health Secrets

Is it heartburn or an ulcer?

This month's Erickson Health Expert

Health information checklist

Take a look at the retina

Tools

Print This Page

Email This Story

Add to Favorites

In the first six months alone, participants showed a 48 percent reduction in falls, compared to their six month history before the program. The program proved so popular that key community personnel were trained to maintain it once the study officially ended in 2004. Under their administration, a similarly high ratio in fall reduction was maintained for at least one year in residents who had undergone a free falls risk screening.

Steps You Can Take

The good news is many of the preventive measures the study demonstrated can be easily adopted by interested individuals.

Make a list of all the medicines you’re taking (both prescription and over-thecounter) and any supplements, like vitamins or herbs. Bring the list to your doctor to evaluate if any drug—or combination of pills—might be affecting your balance. Get recommendations for modifying your drug regimen.
Tell your doctor if you’re getting dizzy when you sit or stand.
Have your doctor check for inner ear problems.
Tell your doctor if you’re having bladder problems, which can cause tripping and falling when rushing to the bathroom.
Leg-strengthening exercises can help keep you from falling, by allowing you to lift yourself more easily from a chair or sofa.
Fall-proof your home. You can do it even without the experts at Erickson-built and –managed communities who advise residents.

For more fall-proofing advice you can order the Centers for Disease Control booklet, Check for Safety: A Home Fall Prevention Checklist for Older Adults. You’ll find it online at www.cdc.gov type “check for safety” into Search and download the first PDF. Or call the CDC in Atlanta at 770-488-1506.

Parrish concludes, “We have demonstrated, in partnership with residents at Charlestown, that regardless of their age, interested adults are able to address the risk factors that cause falls. They can implement and manage many preventive measures themselves. This may result in a decrease in the rate of falls in people who are screened for falls risk, and who follow through on screening recommendations.”