A retrospective population-based data analyses of unintentional fall mortality and hospitalisation in Taiwan during 2005-2007.

The objective of this study is to describe the epidemiology of unintentional fall mortality and hospitalisation and to find the risk factors associated with inpatient mortality. We analysed mortality data from official publications which record the vital statistics and hospitalisation data from National Health Insurance (NHI) Research Database from 2005 to 2007 and fall injuries were classified in accordance with ICD-9-CM E-Codes, including 'falls on the same level (E885-E886)', 'falls on a different level (E880-E884)' and 'unspecified falls (E887-E888)'. We used SPSS 18.0 software. During 2005-2007 in Taiwan, there were 3555 deaths and 180,175 inpatients due to unintentional falls and the mortality rate was 5.19 per 100,000 and the hospitalisation rate was 236.14 per 100,000. With regards to deaths, different-level falls were the primary cause, and those aged 25 or more were high-risk groups; with regards to hospitalisation, same-level falls were the primary cause, and those aged 65 or more were the high-risk group. Associated factors for inpatient mortality can be classified by patient characteristics (older age, catastrophic illness, higher Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and head trauma) and hospital-related factors (geographic area, type of hospital, level of hospital and department of care). The high-risk groups were different between 'same-level' and 'different-level' falls and the findings of this study will be beneficial for concerned authorities to draft up appropriate prevention plans in the future. Moreover, future researchers can further explore different risk factors for injuries using questionnaire surveys or hospital emergency room data.