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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Prev Med. 2016 Feb 4;50(6):719–726. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2015.12.011

Table 2.

Characteristics of People Aged ≥65 Years Who Fell and Were Seen by Emergency Medical Services

Characteristic Not transported
n (%)
Transported
n (%)
Percent not transported within category Total
n (%)
Age
 65–74 50,630 (27.1) 166,632 (23.2) 23.3 217,262 (24.0)
 75–84 70,117 (37.6) 254,319 (35.5) 21.6 324,436 (35.9)
 ≥85 65,965 (35.3) 295,925 (41.3) 18.2 361,890 (40.1)
Gender
 Female 110,706 (59.3) 478,188 (66.7) 18.8 588,894 (65.2)
 Male 73,047 (39.1) 235,121 (32.8) 23.7 308,168 (34.1)
 Unknown 2,959 (1.6) 3,567 (0.5) 45.3 6,526 (0.7)
Urbanicity
 Rural 21,142 (11.3) 87,078 (12.1) 19.5 108,220 (12.0)
 Suburban 19,894 (10.7) 68,029 (9.5) 22.6 87,923 (9.7)
 Urban 136,987 (73.4) 527,004 (73.5) 20.6 663,991 (73.5)
 Wilderness 5,651 (3.0) 23,120 (3.2) 19.6 28,771 (3.2)
 Unknown 3,038 (1.6) 11,645 (1.6) 20.7 14,683 (1.6)
Location
 Home/residence 129,679 (69.5) 414,166 (57.8) 23.8 543,845 (60.2)
 Unknown 18,705 (10.0) 43,585 (6.1) 30.0 62,290 (6.9)
 Residential institution (nursing home, jail/prison) 15,436 (8.3) 180,503 (25.2) 7.9 195,939 (21.7)
 Other location 9,197 (4.9) 32,518 (4.5) 22.0 41,715 (4.6)
 Trade or service (business, bars, restaurants, etc.) 8,798 (4.7) 25,779 (3.6) 25.4 34,577 (3.8)
 Street or highway 4,897 (2.6) 20,325 (2.8) 19.4 25,222 (2.8)
Level of services
 EMT-Basic 20,671 (11.1) 63,710 (8.9) 24.5 84,381 (9.3)
 EMT-Intermediate 4,770 (2.6) 16,293 (2.3) 22.6 21,063 (2.3)
 EMT-Paramedic 150,939 (80.8) 582,152 (81.2) 20.6 733,091 (81.1)
 Nurse 2,198 (1.2) 11,693 (1.6) 15.8 13,891 (1.5)
 Physician 1,634 (0.9) 8,343 (1.2) 16.4 9,977 (1.1)
 Unknown 6,500 (3.5) 34,685 (4.8) 15.8 41,185 (4.6)
EMS impression
 Abdominal pain/problems 332 (0.2) 5,011 (0.7) 6.2 5,343 (0.6)
 Altered level of consciousness 958 (0.5) 20,982 (2.9) 4.4 21,940 (2.4)
 Behavioral/psychiatric disorder 457 (0.2) 2,895 (0.4) 13.6 3,352 (0.4)
 Cardiac distress/chest pain 329 (0.2) 7,679 (1.1) 4.1 8,008 (0.9)
 Diabetic symptoms (hypoglycemia) 1,099 (0.6) 3,258 (0.5) 25.2( 4,357 (0.5)
 Hyperthermia 99 (0.1) 799 (0.1) 11.0 898 (0.1)
 Hypothermia 15 (0.0) 372 (0.1) 3.9 387 (0.0)
 Hypovolemia/shock 189 (0.1) 2,385 (0.3) 7.3 2,574 (0.3)
 None 133,537 (71.5) 287,516 (40.1) 31.7 421,053 (46.6)
 Obvious death 48 (0.0) 522 (0.1) 8.4 570 (0.1)
 Poisoning/drug ingestion 277 (0.1) 1,538 (0.2) 15.3 1,815 (0.2)
 Respiratory arrest/distress 269 (0.1) 4,428 (0.6) 5.7 4,697 (0.5)
 Seizure 83 (0.0) 1,382 (0.2) 5.7 1,465 (0.2)
 Stroke/CVA 188 (0.1) 6,154 (0.9) 3.0 6,342 (0.7)
 Syncope/fainting 5,795 (3.1) 28,956 (4.0) 16.7 34,751 (3.8)
 Traumatic injury 43,037 (23.0) 342,999 (47.8) 11.1 386,036 (42.7)
Patient disposition
 Dead at scene 0 (0.0) 1,117 (0.2) 0.0 1,117 (0.1)
 Transported by EMS or law enforcement 0 (0.0) 715,759 (99.8) 0.0 715,759 (79.2)
 Cancelled/no patient found 5,510 (3.0) 0 (0.0) 100.0 5,510 (0.6)
 No treatment required 36,759 (19.2) 0 (0.0) 100.0 35,759 (4.0)
 Treated and released 38,939 (20.9) 0 (0.0) 100.0 38,939 (4.3)
 Patient refused care 106,504 (57.0) 0 (0.0) 100.0 106,504 (11.8)
 Total 186,712 (20.7) 716,876 (79.3) 903,588 (100.0)

Source: National EMS Information, 2012.

CVA, cerebrovascular accident; EMT, emergency medical technician; EMS, emergency medical services.

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