Healthcare spending for non-fatal falls among older adults, USA

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Inj Prev
• Personal Author:
  Haddad, Yara K ; Miller, Gabrielle F ; Kakara, Ramakrishna ; Florence, Curtis ; Bergen, Gwen ; Burns, Elizabeth Rose ; Atherly, Adam
• Description:
  Background
  
  The older adult (65+) population in the USA is increasing and with it the number of medically treated falls. In 2015, healthcare spending attributable to older adult falls was approximately US$50 billion. We aim to update the estimated medical expenditures attributable to older adult non-fatal falls.
  
  Methods
  
  Generalised linear models using 2017, 2019 and 2021 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and cost supplement files were used to estimate the association of falls with healthcare expenditures while adjusting for demographic characteristics and health conditions in the model. To portion out the share of total healthcare spending attributable to falls versus not, we adjusted for demographic characteristics and health conditions, including self-reported health status and certain comorbidities associated with increased risk of falling or higher healthcare expenditure. We calculated a fall-attributable fraction of expenditure as total expenditures minus total expenditures with no falls divided by total expenditures. We applied the fall-attributable fraction of expenditure from the regression model to the 2020 total expenditures from the National Health Expenditure Data to calculate total healthcare spending attributable to older adult falls.
  
  Results
  
  In 2020, healthcare expenditure for non-fatal falls was US$80.0 billion, with the majority paid by Medicare.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Healthcare spending for non-fatal older adult falls was substantially higher than previously reported estimates. This highlights the growing economic burden attributable to older adult falls and these findings can be used to inform policies on fall prevention efforts in the USA.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Aged Aged, 80 And Over Female Health Expenditures Humans Male Medicare United States
• Source:
  Inj Prev. 30(4):272-276
• Pubmed ID:
  39029927
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11445707
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  30
• Issue:
  4
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c0769a41efe0c8d3131ae78b56bc97fc5084c1692163b899cf37c9147f95ef51e74d93b87856105eb595946a32f8909bde72a50ee39a0db3a302e7240118351e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164641/cdc_164641_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 341.96 KB ]