Comparison of fall-related traumatic brain injury in residential aged care and community-dwelling older people: A population-based study.

Objective: To compare trends, causes, and outcomes of fall-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) between community-dwelling (CD) individuals and residential aged care facility (RACF) residents.

Methods: Hospitalisation and RACF administrative data for 6635 individuals aged ≥65 years admitted to all NSW hospitals for fall-related TBI from 2008-2009 to 2012-2013 were linked.

Results: Of the 6944 hospitalisations, 20.8% were for RACF residents. Age-standardised hospitalisation rates were almost fourfold higher for RACF residents than CD individuals (standardised rate ratio 3.7; 95% CI 3.4-4.1); but increased at a similar annual rate of 9.2% (95% CI 0.3-19.0) and 7.2% (95% CI 5.6-8.9), respectively. Compared to CD individuals: a higher proportion of falls in RACF residents were furniture-related (21.4% vs 9.9%); resulted in haemorrhage (82.5% vs 73.7%); and death (23.1% vs 14.9%). Overall, 7.7% of hospitalisations for CD individuals resulted in new permanent RACF placement.

Conclusion: Residential aged care facility residents have higher hospitalisation rates and poorer health outcomes than their CD counterparts.