[Fall risk factors and fall injuries in hospitalized elderly patients]

Fall Risk Factors have been analysed (RAI-MDS-System) in a population of patients, who were hospitalised between 1995 and 2000 in a geriatric department of a community hospital. In multivariate analysis, viseral-problems, incontinence and depression were fall-protective factors, whereas problems with transfer, the use of assistive walking-aids, female gender and age were fall risk-factors. No independent contribution to the fall-risk was delivered by memory-impairment, problems in decision-making, low body-mass-index, the use of more than three medications and the use of restraints. Fall injuries were analysed in a patient population (n = 218), that was hospitalized in the year 2001 in the geriatric department of a community hospital after a fall. The analysis showed an enormous heterogenicity of the injury-patterns: 58.7% of the fall-patients suffered from a fracture, 10.6% of them had more than one fracture, 34% suffered from other injuries. 77 surgical interventions were performed. The mean length of stay of the fall-patients was 4.5 days higher than the mean of all geriatric patients.