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Fall-related mortality trends in Australia and the United Kingdom: Implications for research and practice
Harry Wu1, John Mach1, David G Le Couteur2
1Departments of Clinical Pharmacology and Aged Care, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia; Laboratory of Ageing and Pharmacology, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, St Leonards, NSW, Australia; Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Objectives:
To characterise changes in nationwide fall-related mortality rates in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) between 2006 and 2016 by age group and sex.
Study Design:
Trend analysis of falls mortality data from World Health Organization (WHO) Mortality Database for the Australian and UK population.
Main Outcome Measures:
We assessed age-specific, sex-specific and age-adjusted mortality rates. Mortality trends were assessed via the annual percentage change (APC) using joinpoint regression.
Results:
The annual average age-adjusted falls mortality rate was 38.63 per 1,000,000 population in Australia, and 34.12 per 1,000,000 population in the UK. From 2006 to 2016, age-adjusted mortality rate due to falls increased in Australia and the UK by an average annual rate of 3.77% (95% CI 2.91% to 4.64%; p<0.01) and 2.11% (95% CI 1.43% to 2.80%; p<0.01) respectively. Death rates from falls increased with age. People aged ≥95 years had the highest mortality rate from falls in Australia and the UK. Men had a higher annual average age-adjusted mortality rate from falls than women (1.6 times higher in Australia and 1.7 times higher in the UK). Women had a larger annual percentage increase in falls mortality rate compared to men over the study period.
Conclusions:
There was a major increase in reported fall-related deaths in Australia and the UK between 2006 and 2016, especially in the very elderly. Men had a higher mortality rate from falls than women. Factors contributing to the apparent increases in fall-related mortality may include reduced cancer and cardiovascular mortality and better ascertainment of cause of death.
