MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Judy A. Stevens PhD National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta GA 30341 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Stevens: The fall death rate among persons aged 65 and older has been increasing rapidly. We used vital statistics data to examine the circumstances and contributing conditions to fall deaths. We found that of 21,649 fall deaths in 2010, the largest proportion (35%) occurred from falling on the same level, followed by falling on stairs or steps (6.5%).  From 1999 to 2010, there was a trend toward more specific reporting of falls circumstances. However, information about the circumstances of 49% of the 2010 fall deaths was not available. In 2010, 49% of fall deaths involved a head injury and 30% involved a hip fracture. The most important contributing causes to fall deaths were circulatory diseases, especially hypertension, and respiratory diseases. Factors that may partially explain the rapid increase in the fall death rate include changing trends in the death rates for underlying chronic diseases strongly associated with falls, such as reductions in cardiovascular disease deaths, as well as better reporting on death certificates of falls as the underlying cause of death. (more…)