Risk factors for older people re-presenting to the emergency department with falls: A case-control analysis

Falls are a leading cause for ED presentations among older adults. Existing secondary falls prevention interventions have not been shown to decrease fall-related ED re-presentation, indicating a need to better understand contributing factors. Our aim was to evaluate risk factors for fall re-presentations among the older patient population presenting to the ED.

This is a single-centre case-control study. Cases were patients aged ≥65 years with two falls-related ED presentations within 6 months. Age- and sex-matched controls had a corresponding index, but no subsequent ED fall presentation. Data collected included falls risk factors and clinical features of the index presentation. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between potential exposures and fall re-presentation.

A total of 300 patients (mean age 83.8 years) were studied. On univariate analysis, factors significantly associated with ED fall re-presentation included increasing multimorbidity (P < 0.0001), increasing number of medications (P < 0.0001) and residing in residential aged care facility (RACF) (odds ratio [OR] 3.06, P < 0.001). No factors remained significant on multivariate analysis. Post-hoc analyses for the RACF subgroup showed that psychotropic medication use (OR 1.65, P = 0.04) and prior fall within 12 months (OR 2.68, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with re-presentation. Initial presentation with serious musculoskeletal injury was a significant protective factor (OR 0.21, P = 0.02).

The present study failed to identify factors independently associated with ED fall re-presentation, suggesting that the factors are complex and inter-related. Two high-risk populations were identified - those from RACF and those initially presenting with falls not resulting in serious injury.