The trend of fall-related mortality at national and provincial levels in Iran from 1990 to 2015

Falls are one of the major causes of unintentional injuries. Understanding the epidemiology of fall-related mortality helps to identify the root causes of this event and planning preventive strategies to inhibit falls. The aim of this study was to assess the trend of fall-related mortality rate and its epidemiological patterns based on sex and age-groups at national and subnational levels in Iran during the years 1990 to 2015. All data were gathered from Death Registration Systems, cemetery databases of Tehran and Isfahan, the Demographic and Health Survey of 2000 and three rounds of national population and housing censuses. The age-standardized death rate (ASDR) due to falls per 100,000 people decreased from 2.61 (95% Uncertainty Interval (UI): 1.94-3.51) in 1990 to 2.13 (1.62-2.80) in 2015 at national level. Males were at higher risk of death due to falls than females. Our data showed that the elderly population was at higher risk of death due to falls and individuals less than 4-year old had the highest fall-related mortality rate among children and adolescents. Our data should be used to accelerate interventions to reduce fall-related mortality.