Ranging from the lower ambient temperature , the presence of snow cover , seasonal factors , and time of the day to location of fall , these factors have different levels of impact related to higher incidence or mortality of fall .
There existed systematic review on studies investigating the association between hip fractures and external risk factors including meteorological factors .
Albeit the fact that most serious common fall injury is a hip fracture , it can not account for all injuries forms of fall .
There was a lack of systematic review covering all fall-related injury or deaths to thoroughly summarise meteorological aspects of fall .
This study aim ed to systematic ally review epidemiological studies of fall and fall-related circumstances without restriction to hip fracture .
Seasonal variations in incidence of fractures among elderly people
Objective —To investigate seasonal variations in the incidence of fall related fractures among people 65 years and older . Population and methods —A prospect i ve , population based cohort study was performed on people aged 65 years and older followed up from 1990 to 1997 , a total of 459 904 person years . Cases were identified through a prospect i ve registration system . Results —There were 10 992 ( 2390 per 100 000 person years ) fall related fractures . The risk was higher in the colder seasons ( October through March ) among people aged 65–79 years ( relative risk ( RR ) = 1.39 , 95 % confidence interval ( CI ) 1.32 to 1.47 ) and in people aged 80 years and older ( RR = 1.17 , 95 % CI 1.09 to 1.22 ) . For arm fractures , the RR was 1.69 ( 95 % CI 1.56 to 1.83 ) among people aged 65–79 years and 1.30 ( 95 % CI 1.13 to 1.43 ) among those aged 80 years and older . The RR for hip fractures was 1.27 ( 95 % CI 1.15 to 1.37 ) among people aged 65–79 years and 1.08 ( 95 % CI 1.00 to 1.15 ) for people aged 80 years and older . Slipping on ice and snow seems to entirely explain the excessive incidence of hip and arm fractures during winter months . Conclusion —Season affects the incidence of all types of fractures in elderly people . Slipping on ice and snow seems to be a causal mechanism behind the seasonal effect . Preventive measures targeting this causal mechanism are likely to reduce the risk of fracture , but the size of the effect is difficult to estimate with certainty
Ranging from the lower ambient temperature , the presence of snow cover , seasonal factors , and time of the day to location of fall , these factors have different levels of impact related to higher incidence or mortality of fall .
There existed systematic review on studies investigating the association between hip fractures and external risk factors including meteorological factors .
Albeit the fact that most serious common fall injury is a hip fracture , it can not account for all injuries forms of fall .
There was a lack of systematic review covering all fall-related injury or deaths to thoroughly summarise meteorological aspects of fall .
This study aim ed to systematic ally review epidemiological studies of fall and fall-related circumstances without restriction to hip fracture .