• Jae Hoon Choi, Sun Hyu Kim, Sun Pyo Kim, Koo Young Jung, Ji Yeong Ryu, Sang Cheon Choi, and In Cheol Park.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan 682-714, Republic of Korea.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2014 Jun 1;32(6):529-34.

IntroductionThis study was conducted to examine the characteristics of intentional fall injuries and the factors associated with their prognosis.MethodsThe study included 8992 patients with unintentional falls from a height (nonintentional group) and 144 patients with intentional falls from a height (intentional group). General and clinical characteristics were compared between the 2 groups. Intentional fall cases were divided into severe and nonsevere groups, and the factors associated with severe injury were evaluated by comparing these groups.ResultsThe most common age group was younger than 14 years in the nonintentional group and between 30 and 44 years old in the intentional group. For the nonintentional group, 65% of the patients were male, and 48% were male in the intentional group. Fall heights of more than 4 m were most common in the intentional group. Discharge was the most common result in the nonintentional group; however, death before arrival at the emergency department (ED) or during ED treatment occurred in 54.9% of patients in the intentional group. In the severe injury group within the intentional group, patients were older, and the height of the fall was higher. Factors associated with severe injury in the intentional group included being a high school graduate rather than a college graduate and greater fall height.ConclusionThe risk of severe injury increased with fall height in the intentional group, and a high school level of education rather than a college level of education was associated with more severe injury.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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