Study of Accidental Falls in the Elderly
Manual of Operations
- Mark C. Hornbrook, PhD, Principal Investigator and Project Director
- Merwyn R. Greenlick, PhD, Co-Investigator
- Darlene J. Wingfield, PT, MPA, Co-Investigator
- Victor J. Stevens, PhD, Co-Investigator
- Jack F. Hollis, PhD, Co-Investigator
The overall aims of this research and demonstration project were to develop and evaluate a comprehensive approach to prevention of unintentional falls among older persons, to obtain a better understanding of the epidemiology of falls and associated injuries, and to develop improved estimates of the costs of medical and rehabilitation care for fall-related injuries in older populations.
The specific aims of this study were as follows:
- To determine the effectiveness of a comprehensive falls prevention program in reducing the incidence of falls and associated medical care use and cost among an ambulatory, non-institutionalized population of older persons, and in maintaining their health and functional status.
- To estimate the cost-effectiveness of this falls prevention program if it is found to be effective.
- To estimate the net financial benefit (or cost) to an HMO and to the Medicare program of a given level of falls prevention for a defined target population age 65 and over.
- To identify the antecedents and consequences of falls in this target population.
- To develop an improved method of predicting risk of falls in a population of older persons.
- To develop profiles of the types of injuries and medical care use associated with different types of falls.
- To estimate the increase in efficacy of falls-risk screening needed to achieve specified cost-effectiveness performance criteria.
Center for Health Research- Kaiser Permanente
3800 North Interstate Avenue
Portland, OR 97227-1110