Citation

James SL, Lucchesi LR, Bisignano C, Castle CD, Dingels ZV, Fox JT, Hamilton EB, Henry NJ, Krohn KJ, Liu Z, McCracken D, Nixon MR, Roberts NLS, Sylte DO, Adsuar JC, Arora A, Briggs AM, Collado-Mateo D, Cooper C, Dandona L, Dandona R, Ellingsen CL, Fereshtehnejad SM, Gill TK, Haagsma JA, Hendrie D, Jürisson M, Kumar GA, Lopez AD, Miazgowski T, Miller TR, Mini GK, Mirrakhimov EM, Mohamadi E, Olivares PR, Rahim F, Riera LS, Villafaina S, Yano Y, Hay SI, Lim SS, Mokdad AH, Naghavi M, Murray CJL. Inj. Prev. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Health Metrics Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043286

PMID

31941758

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Falls can lead to severe health loss including death. Past research has shown that falls are an important cause of death and disability worldwide. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 (GBD 2017) provides a comprehensive assessment of morbidity and mortality from falls.

METHODS: Estimates for mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were produced for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017 for all ages using the GBD 2017 framework. Distributions of the bodily injury (eg, hip fracture) were estimated using hospital records.

RESULTS: Globally, the age-standardised incidence of falls was 2238 (1990-2532) per 100 000 in 2017, representing a decline of 3.7% (7.4 to 0.3) from 1990 to 2017. Age-standardised prevalence was 5186 (4622-5849) per 100 000 in 2017, representing a decline of 6.5% (7.6 to 5.4) from 1990 to 2017. Age-standardised mortality rate was 9.2 (8.5-9.8) per 100 000 which equated to 695 771 (644 927-741 720) deaths in 2017. Globally, falls resulted in 16 688 088 (15 101 897-17 636 830) YLLs, 19 252 699 (13 725 429-26 140 433) YLDs and 35 940 787 (30 185 695-42 903 289) DALYs across all ages. The most common injury sustained by fall victims is fracture of patella, tibia or fibula, or ankle. Globally, age-specific YLD rates increased with age.

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the burden of falls is substantial. Investing in further research, fall prevention strategies and access to care is critical.

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

Language: en

Keywords

burden of disease; epidemiology; fall