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Neighborhood Factors and Fall-Related Injuries among Older Adults Seen by Emergency Medical Service Providers

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  • Sungmin Lee

    (Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Chanam Lee

    (Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Susan Rodiek

    (Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

Abstract

Falls are serious health problems among older adults, and are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries treated by emergency medical services (EMS). Although considerable research has examined the risk factors of falls at the individual level, relatively few studies have addressed the risk factors at the neighborhood level. This study examines the characteristics of neighborhood environments associated with fall injuries reported to EMS providers. A total of 13,163 EMS records from 2011 to 2014 involving adults aged 65 and older in the city of San Antonio (TX, USA) were analyzed at the census tract level (n = 264). Negative binomial regression was used to identify significant census tract-based neighborhood environmental variables associated with the count of fall injuries in each census tract. Adjusting for exposure variable and the size of the census tract, neighborhoods with higher residential stability, captured as the percent of those who lived in the same house as the previous year were associated with decreased count of fall injuries. Neighborhoods with higher residential density and having a higher vacancy rate were associated with increased count of fall injuries. The study highlights the importance of stable and safe neighborhoods in reducing fall risks among older adults, which should be considered a prerequisite for promoting age-friendly environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Sungmin Lee & Chanam Lee & Susan Rodiek, 2017. "Neighborhood Factors and Fall-Related Injuries among Older Adults Seen by Emergency Medical Service Providers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:2:p:163-:d:89731
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John R. Beard & Shannon Blaney & Magda Cerda & Victoria Frye & Gina S. Lovasi & Danielle Ompad & Andrew Rundle & David Vlahov, 2009. "Neighborhood Characteristics and Disability in Older Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(2), pages 252-257.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marcia G. Ory & Matthew Lee Smith, 2017. "What If Healthy Aging Is the ‘New Normal’?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-5, November.
    2. Jennifer Jurado Severance & Solymar Rivera & Jinmyoung Cho & Jessica Hartos & Amal Khan & Janice Knebl, 2022. "A Collaborative Implementation Strategy to Increase Falls Prevention Training Using the Age-Friendly Health Systems Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-11, May.
    3. Sungmin Lee & Chanam Lee & Marcia G. Ory, 2019. "Association between Recent Falls and Changes in Outdoor Environments near Community-Dwelling Older Adults’ Homes over Time: Findings from the NHATS Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-12, September.
    4. Jie Li & Floris Goerlandt & Kai Way Li, 2019. "Slip and Fall Incidents at Work: A Visual Analytics Analysis of the Research Domain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-18, December.

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