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Community dwelling elderly people with a history of falls are likely to sustain subsequent falls and injurious falls. 1 Elderly people who have had a previous fall with a fracture are at an increased risk of major injurious fall. 2 However, the recurrence of major fall injuries other than fractures remains unknown. We conducted a prospective population-based cohort study among home dwelling elderly people to examine the risk of major injurious falls associated with a previous fall with serious soft tissue injury.
Methods and results
We recorded all falls according to ICD-9, 9th revision, (E880A-E899A) among all home living persons aged 70 years or over and resident in five rural municipalities in northern Finland on 1 January 1991. Fall recording from 1 January 1991 until 31 December 1996, was based on telephone contacts every third month and annual examination of the medical records. A major injury associated with a fall was a fracture, joint dislocation, wound needing suturing or other serious soft tissue injury. 2 3 Participants who sustained a fracture because of a fall (n=33) in 1991 or 1992, were excluded from the analyses. The risk of a major injurious fall in 1993-1996 as regards the...