Fall-related Unintentional Injury Death Among Adults 65+ Years of Age by County, New Mexico, 2015-2019

Why Is This Important?

Falls are the leading cause of unintentional (accidental) injury death among adults aged 65 years and older in the United States and in New Mexico. The majority of fall-related injury deaths among older adults involve hip fractures and traumatic brain injuries. Non-fatal injuries from a fall can limit the mobility and also result in non-independent living for many older adults. Falls among older adults are associated with an increased risk of future fall-related injury associated premature death. Many people who fall develop a fear of falling and may become more sedentary, further increasing their risk for another fall. Most falls are not a normal part the normal aging process and are preventable.

Definition

Fall-related death rate is the number of unintentional injury deaths due to falls in persons age 65 years or older, per 100,000 population age 65 years or older. Rates are age-specific death rates for ICD-9 Codes: E880-E886, E888 (1990-1998) and ICD-10 codes ICD-10 Codes: W00-W19 (1999 forward).

Data Sources

• New Mexico Death Data: Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS), Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico Department of Health.
  (https://www.nmhealth.org/about/erd/bvrhs/vrp/)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC WONDER Online Database
  (http://wonder.cdc.gov)
• New Mexico Population Estimates: University of New Mexico, Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) Program.
  (http://gps.unm.edu/)

How the Measure is Calculated

Data Issues

• Death Certificate Data

  Death certificate information is submitted electronically by funeral directors, who obtain demographic information from an informant, a close family member of the decedent. The NMDOH Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS) does annual trainings for funeral directors and local registrars and the death certificate information goes through extensive scrutiny for completeness and consistency. The cause of death is certified by the decedent's physician or the physician that attended the death. Accidental and suspicious deaths are certified by the Office of the Medical Investigator. When death certificates are received the cause of death literals are keyed into software locally by the BVRHS, then shipped to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) where they are machine coded into ICD-10 cause-of-death codes. NCHS returns the ICD-10 codes to BVRHS where the death records are updated.

• New Mexico Population Estimates

  All population estimates apply to July 1 of the selected year. These estimates are considered the most accurate estimates for the state of New Mexico and should match those found on the University of New Mexico Geospatial and Population Studies website. Estimates include decimal fractions. Census tract population estimates were summed to produce County and Small Area population estimates. Population estimate totals may vary due to rounding. Population estimates for previous years are occasionally revised as new information becomes available. When publishing trend data, always be sure that your rates for earlier years match current rates on NM-IBIS that have been calculated with the most up-to-date population estimates.

Health Topic Pages Related to: Injury - Older Adult Falls Deaths

• Injury and Violence
• Leading Causes of Death