Incidence and Estimation of Socioeconomic Costs of Falls in the Rural Elderly Population

Background: This study was done to delineate the incidence and socioeconomic cost of fall-related injuries in the rural elderly population. Methods: From February 1, 2010 to March 31, 2010, a questionnaire-based interview survey was conducted on 2,295 persons 65 years or older living in rural communities (1 Myoen and 1 Eup of Gyoengsangnam-do). The socioeconomic cost due to falls in the elderly in 2009 was estimated using direct and indirect costs. The direct costs included medical costs covered by health insurance and those not covered by insurance. The indirect costs included nursing care, diapers, transportation, health function foods, medical assistance device, and productivity loss. Results: Of the 2,295 subjects, 735 (32.0%) had suffered from fall-related injuries during the previous year. The direct costs of these injuries calculated to be 596,466,000 Won (56.6%). The indirect costs was 458,081,000 Won (43.4%). Of the indirect cost, loss of productivity was 274,993,000 Won, health function foods was 65,531,100 Won, nursing care was 48,755,000 Won, and transportation was 43,122,000 Won. The total socioeconomic costs (direct costs+indirect costs) of the study subjects was 1,054,547,000 Won. The socioeconomic costs per person was 459,500 Won for the total number of study subjects and 1,435,000 Won for the 735 subjects. Conclusion: When the above calculated socioeconomic cost for the 2,295 subjects is applied to the 1,067,262 Korean rural elderly population in 2009, the socioeconomic costs owing to fall-related injuries can be estimated to as much as 343,614,988,000 Won. In the future, the socioeconomic costs due to injuries such as falls is expected to increase as the elderly population increases. Therefore, injury prevention programs and studies for reducing the socioeconomic costs in the elderly community are needed.