The cost of fall-related injuries among older people in NSW, 2006-07

This study aimed to establish comprehensive estimates of the cost of fall-related injury among older people in NSW. A health service utilisation approach was used to estimate the cost of hospital treatment, residential care and ambulance transport. Other costs were estimated by deriving ratios of inpatient costs to other services from the literature. In the 2006-07 financial year, 251,000 (27%) of older people fell at least once and suffered, in total, an estimated 507,000 falls. An estimated 143000 medically treated fall-related injuries among older people resulted in lifetime treatment costs of $558.5 million. Although only 18% of these injuries resulted in hospital admission, the cost of care associated with these cases accounted for 84.5% of the total cost. The cost of fall-related injury among older people in NSW in 2006-07 is a significant increase over earlier estimates and underscores the urgent need for effective preventive efforts across the state.