Falls in older Australians 2019–20: hospitalisations and deaths among people aged 65 and over

In 2019–20, falls among people aged 65 and over resulted in:

Rates are crude-per 100,000 population.

Falls is the leading cause of hospitalised injuries and injury deaths among older Australians, making up 77% of all injury hospitalisations and 71% of injury deaths in this age group.

Almost two-thirds (63%) of hospitalisations due to falls were for females, and females have a higher age-standardised rate of falls injury hospitalisation than males.

Over half (53%) of falls deaths were for females, however males had a higher age-standardised rate of deaths due to falls.

One in 2 falls that resulted in hospitalisation occurred in the home and 1 in 5 occurred in a residential aged care facility.

Most hospitalised falls occurred on the same level (60%), such as a slip, trip, or stumble.

Half of hospitalised falls involved a fracture (50%); open wounds were the next most common fall-related injury (14%).

Australians aged 65 and over were 8 times as likely to be hospitalised and 68 times as likely to die from a fall than those aged 15–64.

Older Australians hospitalised due to a fall had an average length of stay in hospital of 9.5 days.

In April 2020, among people aged 65 and over, there were 25% fewer falls hospitalisations than the same month the previous year. By June 2020, with the easing of COVID-19-related restrictions, fall hospital admissions had returned to pre-pandemic levels.