 | Because Lee County leads the state in fall-related deaths, the Lee County Injury Prevention Coalition has launched a community-wide initiation appropriately named “Step WiseLee.” Working cooperatively with local health care providers, Lee County elderly patients and friends and family, we can prevent falls and fall-related deaths in our community. For more information, visit www.StepWiseLee.com. |
Falls are a serious problem in Lee County. Falls replaced motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths in 2007. There were 144 fall deaths in Lee County in 2007, the latest year for which information is available. There were 106 deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the same year. Lee County has the highest rate of falls deaths in the state. The County fall death rate is 23.2/100,000 people, more than double the State rate of 9.1.
More than one third of adults 65 and older fall each year in the United States (Hornbrook et al. 1994; Hausdorff et al. 2001).
Among older adults, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths. They are also the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma (CDC 2006).
In 2004, 14,900 people 65 and older died from injuries related to unintentional falls; about 1.8 million people 65 and older were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries from falls, and more than 433,000 of these patients were hospitalized (CDC 2006).
The rates of fall-related deaths among older adults rose significantly over the past decade (Stevens 2006).
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