Falls.

Abstract

Falls are a health hazard for the elderly patient. Annually, approximately 30 per cent or more of elderly patients will experience such a problem. Seventy per cent of deaths from falls occur in the elderly population. Morbidity from falls includes fractures, soft tissue trauma, anxiety about further falls, and loss of confidence. Falls are due to environmental factors; neurologic illness including dementia, drop attacks, and sensory loss; alcohol and drug use; orthostatis; cardiac arrhythmias; and acute illnesses such as infection, heart failure, and gastrointestinal bleeding. The physician who treats elderly patients needs to identify those patients at risk or those who already have the problem. Evaluation should not be limited to assessment for injury and must include establishing an etiology. Therapy depends upon determining the precise etiology for the fall and rectifying contributing factors.