Proportion of people experiencing a first hospitalised fall and fall outcomes

Among people living with dementia in residential aged care, people with multiple health conditions (profile 5, multimorbidity) had the highest proportion of individuals experiencing a first hospitalised fall (17%, Figure 7, Table S14), the highest proportion of people experiencing recurrent falls within 12 months (29%, Figure 8, Table S19), and the highest proportion of mortality within 12 months of this fall (47%, Figure 8, Table S20) or the no fall reference date (43%).

Figure 7: Proportion of people experiencing a first fall hospitalisation for people living with dementia in residential aged care, by risk factor profile, age and sex

People in profiles 1 and 4 had the lowest first fall rates (10 and 11%, respectively).

While the highest proportion of people dying within 12 months among the community risk factor profiles was also in the multimorbidity profile, in residential aged care the difference in mortality between those who fell and those who did not was only 4 percentage points. Similarly, small differences in mortality occurrence between those who fell and those who did not were observed across all residential aged care risk factor profiles (Figure 8). This likely reflects the older age and greater morbidity of the residential aged care cohort which in turn increases mortality likelihood regardless of fall status. The increased frailty of individuals in residential aged care may therefore reduce the variability in mortality associated with any given set of risk factors.

Figure 8: Recurrent falls and mortality within 12 months following a first hospitalised fall among people living with dementia in residential aged care, by risk factor profile, age and sex

See following section for an extended description.

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