Predictors of fracture from falls reported in hospital and residential care facilities: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: Fall-related fractures are associated with substantial human and economic costs. An improved understanding of the predictors of fall-related fractures in healthcare settings would be useful in developing future interventions. The objective of this study was to identify such predictors by exploring associations between fall-related factors and fracture outcomes through logistic regression analysis of routinely collected fall incident data. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: 197 public healthcare facilities in Queensland, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: We included data from incident reports completed after falls among admitted adult hospital patients (n=24 218 falls, 229 fractures) and aged-care residents (n=8980 falls, 74 fractures) between January 2007 and November 2009. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES: The outcomes of interest were fall-related predictors of fracture. RESULTS: Hospital patients who reported to have been screened for their risk of falling at admission were less likely to fracture after a fall (OR: 0.60, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.89) than those who had not been screened. Further, falls from standing (OR: 2.08, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.55) and falls while walking (OR: 1.86, 95% CI 1.32 to 2.62) were associated with higher fracture odds than falls during other activities. In line with these results, falls while reaching in standing (OR: 3.51, 95% CI 1.44 to 8.56) and falls while walking (OR: 2.11, 95% CI 1.24 to 3.58) were also predictive of fracture in the adjusted residential care model. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that screening of hospital patients for their risk of falling may contribute towards the prevention of fall-related injury. Falls from upright postures appear to be more likely to result in fractures than other falls in healthcare settings. Further prospective research is warranted.