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Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

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Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#51

Post by zkmon »

PurpleRamen wrote: post #25
zkmon wrote: post #6

People 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?

Ofcourse, it applies to younger people as well. I didn't exclude them.

Other than, if it sounds like "ai slop" to you, you probably did not expect a properly written statement from real people. It gotten to a point someone saying real world experience witnessed by me as "ai slop". This HN land became unfamiliar alien land to me now. Do I need to force myself to sound trivial, incorrect, slangish?

Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#52

Post by mschuster91 »

> Third, it may be due to increased rates of obesity. A CDC study found that obesity increased the propensity for someone to fall in a laboratory setting. And obesity rates among people 60 and older rose from about 32.8% in 2001-2002 to 38.5% in recent years.

It's not just the chance of falling itself that warrants a look. More weight also means more energy dissipated.

On top of that, the problems with falls start to get really serious once fractures get into play [1].

What I can't find any data on is a change of floor material compositions. Anecdotally, I remember many of my older relatives having really soft carpets in their homes, while in more modern homes and even care institutions you will find hard material - hard carpet, wood, tiles or in institutions, straight concrete. All of these have the advantage that you can keep them clean and hygienic with far less effort - but damn, even as a younger person it hurts much more tripping over my cat when in areas with hard flooring. And they're slippery when wet!

For an older or obeser person, it sounds at least plausible that the flooring material contributes to more severe (and, consequentially, more fatal) fall events.

[1] https://www.rechtsdepesche.de/hohe-sterblichkeit-nach-gefaeh...

Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#54

Post by PurpleRamen »

zkmon wrote: post #51
PurpleRamen wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rise is independant of age, but with younger people even greater. Other than that, is that some ai-slop-comment?

Ofcourse, it applies to younger people as well. I didn't exclude them. Other than, if it sounds like "ai slop" to you, you probably did not expect a properly written statement from real people. It gotten to a point someone saying real world experience witnessed by me as "ai slop". This HN land became unfamiliar alien land to me now. Do I need to force myself to sound trivial, incorrect, slangish?

This is so disconnected from the real world that it has to be ai, because I don't want to think someone on this platform can be so ridiclious.

Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#55

Post by dec0dedab0de »

kube-system wrote: post #48
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. I would hope the article is better than the gut feeling of some random programmer commenting on hn before his standup. The increase was greatest in the groups least likely to engage in that behavior. I must point out t…

Elderly people scroll facebook while sitting down, not while walking around... especially if they are of the physical condition where a fall at grade would kill them.

My mother fell and broke her shoulder a few years ago because she heard a ding on her ipad and was rushing back to check it. In 1999, it would have only been the telephone giving her alerts.

Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#56

Post by astura »

fellowniusmonk wrote: post #47
rossdavidh wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Article says age-adjusted fall rates are up substantially, so it's not just older population.

People rollerblade less. I read that fall injuries in the elderly are a significant contributor to both death and drops in quality of life. When it comes to proprioception and balance one group of people over 60 seem to have equivalent balance to younger people and that is certain kinds of rollerbladers. So as a person who was relatively active (40mi+ per week biking and other things) I started rollerblading and it's…

Yoga has balance poses and is much more accessible than rollerblading.

Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#57

Post by Someone »

I didn’t see this discussing whether falls have become more dangerous. How much of this is because the elderly fall more often and how much because, if they fall, they’re more likely to die?

If the latter, it seems the elderly have gotten worse at falling, possibly because they fall less at young age, and aren’t as good in breaking their fall as before.

And yes, it will be difficult to gather data on ”fell with little consequences”, but for the elderly, many falls will lead to doctor visits, so there likely is data on that.

Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#58

Post by toss1 »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #23
rob74 wrote: post #19

Earlier 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.

Which was specifically addressed early in the article.

Not only are there more falls among the elderly, there are more falls even fully accounting for changes in age composition of the population.

>>But an aging population only partially explains the rise in these deaths. Deaths by falls have risen 2.4-fold on an age-adjusted basis. While they have fallen among younger people and only risen slightly among the middle aged, they have risen substantially within every age bracket of the elderly.

Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#59

Post by red-iron-pine »

0_____0 wrote: post #40
shmeeed wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Another state-level predictor of accidental fall death rates is wintry weather: eight of the 10 states with the highest age-adjusted rates are notably snowy. >Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Dakota. The two states in the top 10 that are not notably snowy are Oklahoma and Oregon.

I have slipped on black ice in Portland OR.

bruised my tailbone bad enough to see a doctor after a slip on black ice in VA

Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?

#60

Post by kube-system »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #55
kube-system wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elderly people scroll facebook while sitting down, not while walking around... especially if they are of the physical condition where a fall at grade would kill them.

My mother fell and broke her shoulder a few years ago because she heard a ding on her ipad and was rushing back to check it. In 1999, it would have only been the telephone giving her alerts.

Last millennium there were vanishingly few phones that elderly people just had in their pocket ready at a moments notice. Wouldn't it have previously been more likely that people had to run across the house for the phone before pocketable phones, texting, and voicemail?
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