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There are two broad types of costs that result from falls in older people:
These are associated with the treatment of the fall. These include the number of hospital bed days, falls injury treatment and additional nursing home places [11].
The financial cost of falls in Australia is set to dramatically increase with the ageing population over the next 40 to 50 years, unless effective prevention measures are used and treatment costs are reduced [11]. By 2017, 15 per cent of Queensland's population will be aged 65 years and over [11]. If additional efforts to reduce falls in this age group are not comprehensively implemented before then, the total cost of treatment will rise to a point that is likely to make investment in prevention difficult once the demographic shift occurs.
These include an individual's loss of independence and mobility, fear of falling and the subsequent loss of quality of life, the physical cost of an injury and the effect this has on the family and friends.
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