Trend Analysis of Unintentional Fall Mortality and Years of Life Lost in the Fars Province of Iran, 2004-2019

Habibollah  Azarbakhsh; Fatemeh  Jafari; Seyed Sina  Dehghani; Jafar  Hassanzadeh; Maryam  Janfada; Alireza  Mirahmadizadeh

doi:10.18502/ijph.v53i6.15916

Habibollah Azarbakhsh Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Fatemeh Jafari School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Seyed Sina Dehghani School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Jafar Hassanzadeh Research Center for Health Sciences, Institute of Health, Department of Epidemiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Maryam Janfada Medical Records, Health Vice-Chancellor, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Alireza Mirahmadizadeh Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v53i6.15916

Keywords: Unintentional fall; Trend; Years of life lost; Joinpoint regression; Iran

Abstract

Background: Unintentional falls are one of the main causes of death and a significant burden on victims, families, and communities. This study aimed to determine the trend analysis of mortality rate and years of life lost (YLL) due to unintentional falls in Fars Province, Iran.

Methods: All deaths due to unintentional fall in Fars Province, central Iran from the electronic population-based death registration system (EDRS) were obtained. Crude and age-standardized mortality rate, YLL and YLL rate data were calculated and to examine the trend, joinpoint regression was used.

Results: During the 16-year study period (2004-2019), 1816 deaths due to falls occurred in Fars Province. Crude mortality rate had stable trend in men and increasing trend in women. The total years of life lost due to falls, were 25,437 in men and 5,720 in women. According to the joinpoint regression analysis, the 16-year trend of YLL rate due to premature mortality was decreasing in males. The annual percent change (APC) was -2.8% (95% CI -4.5 to -1.0, P=0.005). However, there were stable trends for females, APC was 3.5% (95% CI -1.8 to 9.1, P=0.181).

Conclusion: Due to the increase in mortality caused by falls in women and stable trend in men, there is an urgent need to plan and implement preventive strategies to reduce the incidence of injuries caused by falls. Home and behavioral modifications such as increasing home lighting, providing handrails on stairs and bathrooms, and educating the people may play an important role in reducing fall deaths.