• Nobuyuki Nosaka, Yu Goda, Emily Knaup, Kohei Tsukahara, Tetsuya Yumoto, Toyomu Ugawa, and Yoshihito Ujike.
• Department of Pediatrics, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.pv702xz5@s.okayama-u.ac.jp.
• Acta Med Okayama. 2015 Jan 1; 69 (5): 275-8.

AbstractWe sought to identify the incidence, injury patterns, and financial burden of ladder fall injuries to provide a reference for reinforcing guidelines on the prevention of such injuries. We enrolled the patients who were injured in a ladder-related fall and required intensive care between April 2012 and March 2014 at Okayama University Hospital, a tertiary care hospital in Okayama City:9 patients injured in 7 stepladder falls and 2 straight ladder falls. The median patient age was 69 years, and 8 were males. Six falls occurred in non-occupational settings. Head injuries predominated, and the injury severity score ranged from 2 to 35 (mean＝21±12). At the time of discharge from the intensive care unit, one patient had died and 5 patients had some neurological disabilities. The case fatality rate was 11%. The total cost of care during the review period was ￥16,705,794, with a mean cost of ￥1,856,199 per patient. Ladder fall injuries are associated with a high rate of neurological sequelae and pose a financial burden on the health insurance system. A prevention education campaign targeting at older-aged males in non-occupational settings may be a worthwhile health service investment in this community.

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