Unexplained Falls Are Frequent in Patients with Fall-Related Injury Admitted to Orthopaedic Wards: The UFO Study (Unexplained Falls in Older Patients).

To evaluate the incidence of unexplained falls in elderly patients affected by fall-related fractures admitted to orthopaedic wards, we recruited 246 consecutive patients older than 65 (mean age 82 ± 7 years, range 65-101). Falls were defined "accidental" (fall explained by a definite accidental cause), "medical" (fall caused directly by a specific medical disease), "dementia-related" (fall in patients affected by moderate-severe dementia), and "unexplained" (nonaccidental falls, not related to a clear medical or drug-induced cause or with no apparent cause). According to the anamnestic features of the event, older patients had a lower tendency to remember the fall.

Two-year morbidity and mortality in elderly patients with syncope.

Background: syncope is a common cause of hospitalisation in the elderly. However, morbidity and mortality in elderly patients with syncope is not well established.

Methods: two-hundred and forty-two patients older than 65 years consecutively referred to the participating centres for evaluation of transient loss of consciousness were enrolled in a multicentre 2-year longitudinal observational study.

Diagnosis and characteristics of syncope in older patients referred to geriatric departments.

Objectives: To test the applicability and safety of a standardized diagnostic algorithm in geriatric departments and to define the prevalence of different causes of syncope in older patients.

Design: Multicenter cross-sectional observational study.

Setting: In-hospital geriatric acute care departments and outpatient clinics.