Outdoor pedestrian fall‐related injuries among Swedish senior citizens – injuries and preventive strategies

Abstract

Senior citizens get around, to a large extent, as pedestrians, and safe walking is desirable for senior citizens allowing them to stay mobile, independent and healthy in old age. Senior citizens are over-represented in injury statistics, and fall-related injuries are common. The aim of this study was to investigate fall-related injuries including healthcare costs among senior citizen pedestrians injured when walking in public outdoor environments and to describe their self-reported causes and suggested preventive strategies. The data were based on a combination of information from injury data and a questionnaire. Three hundred senior citizens attended one emergency department after sustaining injuries from pedestrian falls; 60% suffered nonminor injuries, mostly fractures. One-fifth of the pedestrians were hospitalised for an average of 8 days with an indirect hospital cost of 6.2 million EUR (55 million SEK). Environmental factors such as ice were the most commonly described cause of the injury incident. Forty per cent of the respondents indicated that the municipality was responsible for the cause of the injury incident. Fewer respondents mentioned their own responsibility as a preventive strategy. Thirty per cent described a combination of improvements such as better road maintenance, changes in human behaviour and use of safety products as preventive strategies. It is of great importance to highlight general safety, products and preventive strategies to minimise injury risks, so that pedestrians can safely realise the known health benefits of walking and thereby limit healthcare costs.

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