More than 14 million seniors a year take a tumble, and those falls can be life-changing.

 “The relationship between falls and dementia appears to be a two-way street,” said Molly Jarman, senior author of a new study showing that cognitive decline may increase an older person’s risk for a fall and the trauma that follows a fall may also speed up progress of dementia. 

The study by Jarman, deputy director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and her colleagues notes that falls are among the most common reason for trauma center admissions and the No. 1 cause of injury in older adults.

“Thus, falls may be able to act as precursor events that can help us identify people who need further cognitive screening,” Jarman said in a hospital news release.

Her team looked at Medicare claims data for more than 2.4 million seniors who suffered a traumatic injury and how they were doing a year later. 

Half of the patients were injured in a fall. Of those, 10.6% were later diagnosed with dementia, the study found. Falls increased the risk of a future dementia diagnosis by 21%.

As such, the researchers recommend that older adults who go to the hospital for care after a fall undergo cognitive screening either in the ER or in the hospital. Such screening could enable seniors who need treatment for mental declines to get it sooner, they said.

Nationwide, 1 in 4 older adults report a fall each year, leading to more than $50 billion in health care costs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Study’s first author Dr. Alexander Ordoobadi, a surgical resident at Brigham and Women’s, often sees patients who are admitted after a fall. 

“We treat the injuries, provide rehabilitation, but often overlook the underlying risk factors that contribute to falls, despite a growing body of evidence suggesting a link between falls and cognitive decline,” he said.

Ideally, he said, older adults who fall should receive follow-up with a primary care doctor or geriatrician, a specialist in elder care, who can monitor their thinking skills and long-term recovery. But many seniors don’t have a primary care doctor and lack access to a geriatrician, he pointed.

“Our study highlights the opportunity to intervene early and the need for more clinicians who can provide comprehensive care for older adults,” Ordoobadi said.

The findings were published Sept. 30 in the journal JAMA Network Open.

More information

The National Institute on Aging has a guide to help older adults prevent falls.

SOURCE: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, news release, Sept. 30. 2024

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