Summary of Hospitalizations Due to Fall-Related Injuries — Alaska, 2005–2009 Background

Nationally, the rate of unintentional fall deaths has increased each year from 2000–2007 (2007 is the most recent year for which national comparison data are available); more than 22,000 people died from fall-related injuries in 2007.1 From 2000–2007, Alaska’s age-adjusted rate of unintentional fall-related deaths was 31 % lower than the U.S. age-adjusted rate (4.2 vs. 6.0 deaths per 100,000 persons, respectively);1 however, fall-related injuries were the leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations for Alaskans aged 0–14 and>35 years. Methods Hospitalized injury data were obtained from the Alaska Trauma Registry (ATR), an active surveillance system that collects data from Alaska’s 24 acute care facilities.2 Data pertaining to the initial hospitalization for an injury event were used for the analyses. Subsequent admissions for the sam