• Linda J Scheetz.
• Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York, 250 Bedford Park Blvd, West, Bronx, New York, NY 10468, USA. Electronic address: linda.scheetz@lehman.cuny.edu.
• Int Emerg Nurs. 2015 Apr 1; 23 (2): 162-7.

IntroductionThe objectives of this study were to: identify the incidence and types of brain injuries; classify brain injury severity; identify additional injuries; and identify predictors of length of stay, mortality and trauma center admission.MethodsThis secondary analysis used the NY State Inpatient Databases Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Inclusion criteria were: age 65 years and older, admitted to a hospital following a same level fall, primary hospital discharge diagnosis of traumatic brain injury. Descriptive and regression analyses were performed.Results3331 patient records were analyzed. Intracranial hemorrhage accounted for 70% of the brain injuries. Younger age, higher household income, insurance status, ethnicity, patient location, increasing number of chronic diseases and diagnoses predicted trauma center admission. Age, trauma center admission, comorbidities, and brain injury severity predicted mortality. Age, race, major surgery, and number of diagnoses predicted length of stay.DiscussionBrain injuries are common sequelae from falls among older adults. Additional research is needed to understand sociodemographic factors that are associated with trauma center admission.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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