Correspondence

Reducing Injuries from Falls

N Engl J Med 2008; 359:1626October 9, 2008

Article

To the Editor:

Evaluating systemwide fall-prevention programs is crucial for translating the now substantial trial-based evidence of the efficacy of certain fall-prevention measures. Tinetti et al. (July 17 issue)1 report a 9% reduction in serious fall-related injuries after a U.S. community-wide intervention that encouraged clinicians to implement a range of evidence-based fall-prevention strategies. This finding is consistent with the results of our own recent research in Australia. Using population-level epidemiologic modeling, we have predicted reductions in national rates of fall-related hospital admissions for people 65 years of age or older that range from 0.4 to 4.6% in a 12-month period for each of five fall-prevention measures recommended in a Cochrane review.2 These measures include those implemented in the study by Tinetti et al. Our lower reductions are to be expected, since we modeled effects of single fall-prevention measures on hospital admissions alone over a 12-month period, whereas Tinetti et al. examined the effects of multiple measures on emergency department visits and hospital admissions over a 2-year period. The consistency in the results of the U.S. community-wide intervention and those of the Australian epidemiologic-modeling study imparts confidence in the findings for practitioners and policymakers.

Lesley Day, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia
lesley.day@muarc.monash.edu.au

Caroline Finch, B.Sc., Ph.D.
University of Ballarat, Ballarat, VIC 3350, Australia

Leonie Segal, Ph.D.
University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia

2 References

1. 1

   Tinetti ME, Baker DI, King M, et al. Effect of dissemination of evidence in reducing injuries from falls. N Engl J Med 2008;359:252-261
   Full Text | Web of Science | Medline

2. 2

   Gillespie LD, Gillespie WJ, Robertson MC, Lamb SE, Cumming RG, Rowe BH. Interventions for preventing falls in elderly people. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2003;4:CD000340-CD000340
   Medline

Citing Articles (1)

Citing Articles

1. 1

   Nancye M. Peel, Catherine Travers, Rebecca A. R. Bell, Kate Smith. (2010) Evaluation of a health service delivery intervention to promote falls prevention in older people across the care continuum. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 16:6, 1254-1261
   CrossRef