Non-occupational ladder and scaffold fall injuries

In the period 1988-1997 a series of 1462 patients aged 15 years or older with non-occupational fall injuries from ladders or scaffolds were studied. We registered 1402 ladder falls and 60 scaffold falls. The mean age was 50 years, and 1052 were males. The mean annual incidence rate was 1.18 per 1000 inhabitants/year for males and 0.41 per 1000 inhabitants/year for females. A rise in the annual incidence rates with increasing age were observed for both males and females, whereas no trend in the annual incidence rates for each of the ten years studied were observed. About 1/5 of the patients were hospitalized with a median number of 7 days. Two patients died following the injury. Half of the registered injuries were contusions or sprains, whereas about 1/3 were fractures or dislocations. The extremities were most commonly injured as 36% of the injuries were located to the lower extremities and 33% to the upper extremities. The forearm was most commonly fractured or dislocated, whereas the ankle joint was most commonly sprained or contused.