I'll throw this out. Due to inflation and cheaper goods (Baumol effect) more people are engaged in activities which can lead to accidental falls - DIY projects like cleaning gutters.
Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
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Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#22Now graph this against the rise of mobile devices…
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#23This might be evidence that the gravitational constant G is changing (increasing) over time! Could this be the explanation for dark matter and dark energy?
Occam's razor says it's less likely that the gravitational constant is increasing and more likely that the ability to withstand the pull of gravity decreases with age.
Well of course old people fall more, but the article is about changes over the last 20 years.
...Oh wait, are you saying there are more old people now? That's interesting.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#24E-bikes?
The CDC separates pedal cyclist causes of death from fall causes, so they wouldn't be reflected in this data.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#25People fall because the surroundings are unfamiliar, their trust and assumptions about things around them, and about themselves, have gone wrong. Why does this discrepancy arise? For older people, the world around them and food they eat has changed too fast, to the extent of being an alien land. They walk on a surface, making assumptions based on what they were familiar with in the past. But the surface is no longer…
The rise is independant of age, but with younger people even greater.
Other than that, is that some ai-slop-comment?
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#26I guess the hypothesis makes sense. They say it's probably Drugs, Alcohol, Obesity and Fourth, some of the increase may be due to changes in reporting. As people have become more aware of the danger of falls, falls that used to not be recorded as a cause of death may increasingly be reported as a cause.
I'm curious how many deadly falls are the result of an ilness. Would having an heart attack in an unlucky moment skew the statistics? I guess they normally would not research the cause of death deeper if there is an obvious reason.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Occam's razor says it's less likely that the gravitational constant is increasing and more likely that the ability to withstand the pull of gravity decreases with age.
Well of course old people fall more, but the article is about changes over the last 20 years. ...Oh wait, are you saying there are more old people now? That's interesting.
It's back end of the post-war boom.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#28Aside from alcohol and obesity, I don't see: 1. Cancer survivability. If people aren't dying from cancer they will be more likely to die from a fall in a weakened state. 2. Two level homes are a higher percentage of new construction and people are more able to afford it when they're older. Edit: okay they did mention fewer deaths from other causes such as cancer and heart disease.
The article did address differences in the rates of 'same level falls' vs. stairs, etc. So they accounted for that too.
We just finally got my 85-yr-old mother to move out of her house into a nice apartment near us with elevator access. She has already had some bad falls. Now we just have to worry about her driving. She shouldn't need to drive as much in her new place, but she probably will anyway.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#29I would assume it is because of the extra distractions now. Everything becoming "smarter" and more addictive. How many were looking at their phones, hurrying back to catch the increasingly manipulative "news", or frustrated because their voice assistant didn't understand them? Since 2000 all of these things, and the amount of tech per household in general, have gone up quite a bit. I'm surprised it wasn't listed as a…
This is my first guess too. There's some stat that says more people die from falling while they try to frame a selfie compared to dying because of shark attacks... (Ok death by shark is actually quite rare)
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#30I would assume it is because of the extra distractions now. Everything becoming "smarter" and more addictive. How many were looking at their phones, hurrying back to catch the increasingly manipulative "news", or frustrated because their voice assistant didn't understand them? Since 2000 all of these things, and the amount of tech per household in general, have gone up quite a bit. I'm surprised it wasn't listed as a…
The increase was greatest in the groups least likely to engage in that behavior.
The hypotheses in the article are much stronger. To me, the increasing use of mind altering drugs in geriatric care is an obvious contributor... so much so that these drugs list that risk on the label.