Falls are the leading cause of injury death for older adults. As one of the oldest states per capita, this is a significant public health concern in New Hampshire.
Dawna M. Pidgeon, PTRecent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that New Hampshire was among the states with the highest incidences of adults over 65 dying from falling unintentionally. In 2023, there was an age-adjusted rate of 121.6 per 100,000 Granite Staters over 65 who died from falling.[1] The national rate was 78.2 per 100,000.[2]
“Falls are the leading cause of injury death for older adults” said Dawna M. Pidgeon, PT, a physical therapist with Dartmouth Health. “As one of the oldest states per capita, this is a significant public health concern in New Hampshire.”
Pidgeon co-chairs the New Hampshire Falls Risk Reduction Task Force, a statewide, multi-stakeholder collaborative effort sponsored through grant funding and supported by Dartmouth Health staff. The Task Force is a coalition of professionals in New Hampshire committed to reducing the risk and number of falls among the state’s older adult population through education and training opportunities. With diverse representation across sectors, the Task Force has a strategic goal to reduce the rate of death from falling in Granite Staters over 65 to 106.9 per 100,000 by 2030.
Risk factors for falling common in older adults include:
- Balance and gait problems
- Decreased strength and flexibility
- Low levels of vitamin D
- Impaired hearing
- Dizziness
- Altered mental status
- Taking multiple medications
- Impaired vision
- Chronic and/or acute illness
- Overconsumption of alcohol
- A previous fall within the past six months
- Throw rugs, cords lying across the floor, steep steps/stairs, spilled liquids, and other trip/slip hazards
“The Task Force offers numerous resources, including a home safety assessment, a quiz to determine your risk factors, and resource maps showing evidence-based falls prevention programs in communities throughout the state,” Pidgeon said. “We want older adults in our state, their families, friends and caregivers to know that while the risk for falling rises as we age, there are many steps that can be taken to reduce that risk that are easy to implement into daily life.”
To learn more about the Task Force, call 603-653-3483, email Dawna.M.Pidgeon@hitchcock.org or visit nhfalls.org.
[1] NH DHHS Data Portal, Older Adult Falls Deaths, https://wisdom.dhhs.nh.gov/wisdom/dashboard.html?topic=older-adult-falls&subtopic=older-adult-falls&indicator=fall-related-deaths-(unintentional,-age-65-and-over)
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.