Falls in Elders May Be Driving Up Secondary Diagnoses of Eye Trauma
Hospital admissions due to eye trauma have declined since 2001, but more and more patients are being admitted with a secondary diagnosis of eye trauma, largely due to an increase in falls among older people, new findings suggest, according to a Reuters report.
“It is important to realize that falls are preventable. Modifications at home, monitoring medications that could affect balance in the elderly and screening for predisposing conditions such as hypotension could help prevent falls considerably,” Dr. Syed M.A. Shah of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, in Pennsylvania, told Reuters Health via email.
From 2 to 2.4 million cases of eye trauma occur in the U.S. annually, and almost 1 million people suffer lasting, serious visual impairment due to eye injury each year, Dr. Shah and his team note in Ophthalmology, online October 4.