Incidence and Estimation of Socioeconomic Costs of Falls in Rural Elderly of Korea

Purposes&Methods:This study was carried out to find out the incidence and socioeconomic cost estimation of falls in rural elderly of Korea. The questionnaire-based interview survey was conducted to 2,295 elderly(≥65 years of age) people living in rural communities between February 1,2010 and March 31,2010. The socioeconomic cost due to falls of elderly in 2009 was estimated by direct costs and indirect costs. Results:Among 2,295 subjects,735 subjects(32.0%) experienced fall injury in 2009. Among 735 subjects with falls,117 subjects(16.5%) experienced 121 admissions,324 subjects(44.1%) visited outpatient departments,260 subjects(35.4%) visited herb clinics, 468 subjects(63.7%) purchased health function food, 106 subjects purchased medical assistance device. The direct costs due to falls turned out US$ 536,246. Among direct costs, the health insurance covered treatment cost was US$ 475,174 and the non-covered cost was US$ 61,072. Indirect cost was US$ 411,832. Indirect cost turned out the productivity loss costs US$ 247,229, health function food purchase cost US$ 58,915, nursing costs US$ 43,833, and traffic expenses US$ 38,768. Total socioeconomic costs of the study subjects by falls yielded to US$ 948,078 in direct and indirect costs. Socioeconomic costs were US$ 413 per study subject and US$ 1,290 per elderly experienced falls. Conclusions:When above calculated socioeconomic costs of 2,295 subjects applied to 1,067,262 Korean rural elderly population in 2009, the socioeconomic costs owing to fall injury estimated to US$ 308,922,942. In future, socioeconomic costs due to injury such as falls expected to increase as number of elderly increase. Therefore, injury prevention program is positively necessary to reduce socioeconomic costs