Fall-related sub-acute and non-acute care and hospitalised rehabilitation episodes of care : what is the injury burden?

Background: Falls are the leading cause of injury in older people. Rehabilitation services can assist individuals to improve mobility and function after sustaining a fall-related injury. However, the true effect of fall-related injury resulting in hospitalisation is often underestimated because of failure to consider sub-acute and non-acute care provided following the acute hospitalisation episode. Aim: This study aims to describe the sub-acute and non-acute health service use of individuals hospitalised in New South Wales (NSW), Australia for a fall-related injury during 2000-01 to 2008-09, to examine the burden of fall-related inpatient rehabilitation hospital admissions from 1998-99 to 2010-11 and to estimate future demand for fall-related inpatient rehabilitation admissions in NSW to 2020. Method: Retrospective review of sub-acute and non-acute records linked to hospital admission records during 2001-02 to 2008-09 in NSW. Analysis of temporal trends from 1998-99 to 2010-11 and projections to 2020 for rehabilitation-related (ICD-10-AM: Z47, Z48, Z50, Z75.1) inpatient hospital admissions. Results: There were 4317 individuals with a fall-related injury admitted to hospital and subsequently admitted for sub-acute and non-acute care; 84% of these were aged 65+ years; 70.4% were female and 27.2% had femur fractures. For the rehabilitation-related admissions, total mean functional independence measure (FIM) scores improved significantly (from 78.4 to 94.6; P