In the US more than 14 million seniors a year take a tumble, and those falls can be life-changing. Research found they increased the risk of a future dementia diagnosis by 21%. Falls also result in over $50 billion per year in health care expenditures.
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/neurology/falling-linked-to-raised-risk-of-dementia-in-older-people
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More than 14 million seniors a year take a tumble, and those falls can be life-changing.
“The relationship between falls and dementia appears to be a two-way street,” said Molly Jarman, senior author of a new study showing that cognitive decline may increase an older person’s risk for a fall and the trauma that follows a fall may also speed up progress of dementia.
The study by Jarman, deputy director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and her colleagues notes that falls are among the most common reason for trauma center admissions and the No. 1 cause of injury in older adults.
Thus, falls may be able to act as precursor events that can help us identify people who need further cognitive screening,” Jarman said in a hospital news release.
Her team looked at Medicare claims data for more than 2.4 million seniors who suffered a traumatic injury and how they were doing a year later.
Half of the patients were injured in a fall. Of those, 10.6% were later diagnosed with dementia, the study found. Falls increased the risk of a future dementia diagnosis by 21%.
[https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2824208](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2824208)
Really interesting chicken-and-egg question here.
Also, very unintentionally funny headline. 14 million seniors take a tumble. All at once?
Bubble wrapping our seniors is the best option. That or those inflatable sumo suits
My grandmother in law died from a fall, and my grandmother ended up in the hospital from multiple falls, and passed several weeks after. My wife’s stepfather’s mother, also died from falling… it’s wild how brittle we become with age. Have you guys seen those devices that motorcyclists wear that inflate and protect the rider when they detect a crash? Can we make that for old people?