Fall-related injuries to increase

A new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that the ageing of the Australian population has increased the numbers of people at high risk of fall-related injury. There will be a substantial increase of such injuries in years to come.

The report examines fall-related hospitalisations for people aged 65 and older for the years 2000-03 according to country of birth and place of usual residence. It points out that a large proportion of Australia’s older population were born overseas.

This plus changing migration patterns following the Second World War have resulted in an older population which is becoming highly culturally and linguistically diverse.

The rates of falls in the older Australian population over the study period confirm the ‘healthy migrant’ hypothesis: rates of falls are highest in the Australian-born and lowest in older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

However, while current rates of falls in migrant groups are lower than that of the Australian-born population their rates of hospitalisation are still substantial and contribute to an important proportion of the nation’s health care burden.

The changing age and cultural structure of the migrant population will ensure that this burden will increase considerably in the near future, requiring preventative approaches which are inclusive of diverse migrant groups. Regional analyses also suggest that local socio-cultural population profiles should be taken into account in future falls prevention planning.