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Outdoor pedestrian fall-related injuries among Swedish senior citizens - injuries and preventive strategies.
- Source :
- Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences; Jun2015, Vol. 29 Issue 2, p225-233, 9p
- Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Senior citizens get around, to a large extent, as pedestrians, and safe walking is desirable for senior citizens allowing them to stay mobile, independent and healthy in old age. Senior citizens are over-represented in injury statistics, and fall-related injuries are common. The aim of this study was to investigate fall-related injuries including healthcare costs among senior citizen pedestrians injured when walking in public outdoor environments and to describe their self-reported causes and suggested preventive strategies. The data were based on a combination of information from injury data and a questionnaire. Three hundred senior citizens attended one emergency department after sustaining injuries from pedestrian falls; 60% suffered nonminor injuries, mostly fractures. One-fifth of the pedestrians were hospitalised for an average of 8 days with an indirect hospital cost of 6.2 million EUR (55 million SEK). Environmental factors such as ice were the most commonly described cause of the injury incident. Forty per cent of the respondents indicated that the municipality was responsible for the cause of the injury incident. Fewer respondents mentioned their own responsibility as a preventive strategy. Thirty per cent described a combination of improvements such as better road maintenance, changes in human behaviour and use of safety products as preventive strategies. It is of great importance to highlight general safety, products and preventive strategies to minimise injury risks, so that pedestrians can safely realise the known health benefits of walking and thereby limit healthcare costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- ACCIDENTAL fall prevention
INJURY risk factors
WOUND & injury classification
ACADEMIC medical centers
CHI-squared test
CLIMATOLOGY
CONTENT analysis
EMERGENCY medical services
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL research
ACCIDENTAL falls
LENGTH of stay in hospitals
HOSPITAL costs
HOSPITAL emergency services
ORTHOPEDIC apparatus
MEDICAL care use
MEDICAL care costs
PROBABILITY theory
QUESTIONNAIRES
RESEARCH funding
SAFETY
SELF-evaluation
WALKING
SOCIAL context
WOUNDS & injuries
SEVERITY of illness index
DATA analysis software
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
TRAUMA registries
TRAUMA severity indices
OLD age
ECONOMICS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02839318
- Volume :
- 29
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 102498537
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12153