Abstract:

This review examines the most common types of accidents affecting elderly people in order to identify common threads which may suggest scope for prevention. For all accident types discussed, the outcome for elderly individuals is worse than for younger victims. Accidents involving older people have been neglected in research for a number of years and there are insufficient data on the true prevalence of accidental injuries and the long-term costs and consequences of accidents. Although the literature on accidents appears extensive, publications on falls dominate and comparisons between these studies are complicated by the variety of ways of classifying and defining falls and by the different populations studied. Elderly people appear more likely than younger adults to have accidents because of sensory and cognitive impairment in later life and pre-exisiting medical conditions which may present problems or lead to an increased use of drugs. Slower reaction times are evident amongst older persons (e.g. in a car accident) and the recovery process may be delayed in older people due to slower healing, secondary infections and complications.