Table 1 .
Characteristics of 1,877 study participants as compared with those of non-fall etiologies (n = 4,531)
| Fall group |
Non-fall group |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics* | n | (%) | n | (%) | P value |
| Age (years) | |||||
| 0–15 | 8 | (0.4) | 69 | (1.5) | <0.001 |
| 16–30 | 239 | (12.7) | 2,052 | (45.3) | |
| 31–45 | 329 | (17.5) | 1,015 | (22.4) | |
| 46–60 | 664 | (35.4) | 945 | (20.9) | |
| 61 and above | 637 | (33.9) | 450 | (9.9) | |
| Age (years), mean ± standard deviation | 52.9 | ± 17.0 | 36.6 | ± 16.6 | <0.001 |
| Sex | |||||
| Male | 1,490 | (79.4) | 3,607 | (79.7) | 0.80 |
| Female | 387 | (20.6) | 921 | (20.3) | |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| White | 1,272 | (69.7) | 2,657 | (59.6) | <0.001 |
| Black | 335 | (18.4) | 1,207 | (27.1) | |
| Hispanic | 149 | (8.2) | 455 | (10.2) | |
| Other | 68 | (3.7) | 139 | (3.1) | |
| Day of injury | |||||
| Monday | 295 | (15.7) | 573 | (12.7) | <0.001 |
| Tuesday | 226 | (12.0) | 514 | (11.3) | |
| Wednesday | 232 | (12.4) | 536 | (11.8) | |
| Thursday | 268 | (14.3) | 528 | (11.7) | |
| Friday | 258 | (13.8) | 635 | (14.0) | |
| Saturday | 314 | (16.7) | 881 | (19.4) | |
| Sunday | 284 | (15.1) | 864 | (19.1) | |
| Month of injury | |||||
| January | 131 | (7.0) | 332 | (7.3) | 0.07 |
| February | 133 | (7.1) | 274 | (6.1) | |
| March | 141 | (7.5) | 390 | (8.6) | |
| April | 150 | (8.0) | 401 | (8.6) | |
| May | 157 | (8.4) | 430 | (9.5) | |
| June | 160 | (8.5) | 385 | (8.5) | |
| July | 177 | (9.4) | 495 | (10.9) | |
| August | 166 | (8.8) | 399 | (8.8) | |
| September | 158 | (8.4) | 384 | (8.5) | |
| October | 171 | (9.1) | 353 | (7.8) | |
| November | 172 | (9.2) | 343 | (7.6) | |
| December | 161 | (8.6) | 345 | (7.6) | |
| Work-related | |||||
| Yes | 299 | (16.1) | 268 | (6.0) | <0.001 |
| No | 1,559 | (83.9) | 4,223 | (94.0) | |
| Associated injury | |||||
| Yes | 416 | (24.4) | 1,863 | (46.1) | <0.001 |
| No | 1287 | (75.6) | 2,182 | (53.9) | |
| Vertebral injury | |||||
| Yes | 1,208 | (70.9) | 3,339 | (82.5) | <0.001 |
| No | 497 | (29.1) | 710 | (17.5) | |
| Level of injury | |||||
| Cervical | 1,112 | (66.3) | 2,194 | (53.6) | <0.001 |
| Thoracic | 402 | (24.0) | 1,483 | (36.2) | |
| Lumbar | 146 | (8.7) | 396 | (9.7) | |
| Sacral | 5 | (0.3) | 11 | (0.3) | |
| Normal | 12 | (0.7) | 11 | (0.3) | |
| AIS grade | |||||
| A | 426 | (24.8) | 1,732 | (41.2) | <0.001 |
| B | 162 | (9.4) | 612 | (14.6) | |
| C | 305 | (17.7) | 608 | (14.5) | |
| D | 814 | (47.4) | 1,244 | (29.6) | |
| E | 12 | (0.7) | 11 | (0.3) | |
AIS = American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale
*Records with unknown or missing values were excluded from the analysis