Papers prepared by the National Institute on Aging for the White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA). Injury in late life: II. Prevention.

Contemporary, systematic approaches to injury prevention are presented as guides for considering needless death and disability of older people because of falls, burns, and vehicular crashes. Injury results from an unfavorable relationship between etiologic agent and host within a particular environment setting. Abnormal energy exchange is the agent. Injury prevention strategies are sometimes aimed at the agent and other times are reducing exposure or susceptibility. By considering phases of the injury event (pre-event, event, and post-event) and the agent, host, and environment in each phase, a wide variety of options can be developed for preventing injury or minimizing the consequences of those which do occur.