Ground-Level Falls at Skilled Nursing Facilities Are Associated With More Serious Lower Extremity Injuries Compared With Home.
Int J Low Extrem Wounds
; 19(2): 190-196, 2020 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31496322
ABSTRACT
Ground-level falls (GLFs) are the number one cause of injury and death in the older adult population. We compared injury profiles of GLFs at SNFs to those at homes, hypothesizing that GLFs at SNFs would lead to higher risks for serious (AIS ≥ 3) traumatic brain injury (TBI) and lower extremity (LE) injuries compared to GLFs at home. The 2015-2016 Trauma Quality Improvement Program was used to compare patients sustaining GLFs at home and SNFs. From 15,873 patients sustaining GLFs, 14,306 (90.1%) occurred at home while 1,567 (9.9%) at SNFs. More patients with GLFs at SNFs were female, older, and had greater incidence of congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease, and dementia (p < 0.001) compared to those at home. Although, GLF SNF patients had lower injury severity scores (9 vs. 10, p < 0.001) and incidence for TBI (28.0% vs 33.4%, p < 0.001), they had a higher rate of femur fractures (55.1% vs. 38.9%, p < 0.001). After controlling for female, end stage renal disease, smoking, dementia, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, and stroke, patients falling at SNFs had an increased risk of sustaining serious LE injury AIS (OR 1.64, p < 0.001), but not serious TBI AIS (OR 0.89, p = 0.073). In conclusion, compared to GLFs at home, those at SNFs have a higher risk for serious LE injury, with femur fractures being the most common. However, GLFs at SNFs and homes had no significant difference in risk for serious TBI. Future studies are warranted to evaluate preventative measures to reduce LE injuries at SNFs.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Skilled Nursing Facilities
/
Wounds and Injuries
/
Accidental Falls
/
Accidents, Home
/
Fractures, Bone
/
Brain Injuries, Traumatic
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Int J Low Extrem Wounds
Journal subject:
TRAUMATOLOGIA
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Estados Unidos