Four in ten older adults seen in ED after a fall were back within a year

The edition in brief

A meta-analysis of 19 observational studies of adults aged 65 or over presenting to the emergency department after a fall found cumulative ED revisits of 8.8% at 7 days, 15.0% at 30 days and 41.3% at 12 months, and hospital readmissions of 10.4% at 30 days and about 30% by six months, with substantial heterogeneity. In the FEARFALL trial, 160 community-dwelling adults aged 70 or over received four months of exercise and cognitive-behavioural training or a sham programme; concern about falling improved equally in both groups at eight months, with no difference in stress or inflammatory markers. In a Spanish community cohort of about 1,800 adults aged 65 or over, the Frailty Trait Scale showed distinct risk thresholds for disability, hospitalisation and death, and a reduction of about 10 points was associated with lower hospitalisation (HR 0.74) and a reduction of about 5 with lower mortality (HR 0.65). A double-blind trial of topical pilocarpine drops in 92 frail or seriously ill adults with dry mouth found no difference from placebo at four weeks, but it recruited below its target of 120.