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Abstract
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Background: Unintentional falls are a major cause of morbidity and mortality with a significant burden on victims, families, and societies. We aimed to study the mechanism, risk factors, and outcome of hospitalized patients with fall-related injuries in order to propose preventive measures.
METHODS Fall-related injured patients who were admitted to Al Ain Hospital, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for more than 24 hours or who died after arrival to the hospital, were studied over 3 years. Demography, location and time of injury, affected body regions, hospital and ICU stay, and outcome were analyzed.
RESULTS 882 patients were studied, 82% were males, and 22% were less than 19 years old. Majority were from the Indian subcontinent. The most common location for fall injuries was work. Patients injured at work were older and mainly non-UAE nationals (p¿<¿0.0001) when compared with those injured at home. Patients falling from height, when compared with those falling from same level, were older (p¿=¿0.017), had more males (p¿<¿0.001), were mainly from the Indian subcontinent (p¿<¿0.001), had higher ISS (p = 0.011) and longer total hospital stay (p¿<¿0.001).
CONCLUSIONS Falls are a major health problem in the UAE. Falls at work can be prevented by safety education tailored to different ethnic groups, and proper legislation and regulation. Environmental modification using evidence-based architectural design may prevent falls among vulnerable risk groups.
Language: en |