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More to Prevent North Carolina Nursing Home Fall Accidents: Men More at Risk of Dying from Hip Fractures While Women Are More Likely to Sustain The Injury

According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, women are up to three times more likely to sustain hip fractures than men, and the latter are more likely to die from having these breaks. This is why it is so important that assisted living facilities make sure that unnecessary nursing home fall accidents do not happen.

Adults in the 65 and over age group are most vulnerable to suffering from hip fractures. Other facts, based on 39 studies involving 155,000 males and almost 600,000 women, ages 50 and over, with hip fractures:

? Older women have a six times greater chance of dying after a hip fracture than women who didn?t sustain a break.
? Older men are eight times more likely to pass away within the first three months of sustaining a hip fracture.
? After a hip fracture, for the next 10 years, the patient, whether female or male, is at higher risk of dying.
? Men with hip fractures are more likely to die from pneumonia, sepsis, or other infections than their female counterparts.

While researchers do not know why the death rate increases when someone has a hip fracture, Dr. Cathleen Colon-Emeric explained to CNN that hip fractures cause a major strain to what was likely an already frail body. One reason that women are more susceptible to hip fractures as they grow older is that they tend to naturally lose bone after going into menopause. As for many of the men who do sustain hip fractures, they usually will have had an underlying medical condition at the time that the injury happened.

There are preventive measures that can be taken to prevent hip fractures from happening, including making sure that elderly persons get enough vitamins, calcium, exercise, as well as engage in activities that stimulate bone formation. In addition to these simple measures, nursing homes can make sure that the facility is designed in a way to minimize the risk of falling: lowered bed heights, bedrails, grab bars, elevated toilet seats, and hallway handrails are some effective tools. Also, nursing home workers can:

? Assist the patients who need physical help when getting around.
? Closely supervising residents who are fall risks.
? If a fall accident happens, giving a patient a hip pad can prevent hip fractures.
? Monitor patients who are heavily sedated or under medication that disorients them.

Unfortunately, North Carolina falls accidents involving the elderly do happen.

You may have grounds for filing a Charlotte, North Carolina nursing home neglect case.

Hip fractures more deadly to men, Paging Dr. Gupta Blog/CNN, March 15, 2010

Falls in Nursing Homes, CDC

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes, North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services

Medicare, US Department of Health and Human Services

Annals of Internal Medicine

Full post as published by North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog on March 16, 2010 (boomark / email).