OSF Preprints · Apr 30, 2026
Falls-related mortality
By Dernie F
Falls are a leading cause of morbidity in the United Kingdom. An estimated 30% of people aged 65 and over will fall at least once a year, increasing to 50% in people aged 80 years and over [1]. Falls can also be the initiating factor in a sequence of events that lead to death, whether through direct trauma such as hip fractures and head injuries, or indirectly through resulting immobility and vulnerability to other conditions such as infection. In England, falls result in over 7000 deaths annually, making them the leading cause of injury-related death in older people. Understanding trends in falls-related mortality, and identifying groups at higher risk of dying from falls, is of importance to public health service planning and falls prevention programmes, as well as individual healthcare workers caring for patients who have fallen. A previous analysis of the WHO Mortality Database showed that between 2006-2016 falls-related mortality increased in the UK, with higher mortality rates seen in men compared to women [2]. The latest data from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID), which uses figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), confirms that fall-related mortality rates have continued to rise, with an all-time high of around 15 per 100,000 in the period 2022-2024 [3]. While fall mortality rates stratified by sex are routinely reported, rates by socioeconomic status are not. There is clear evidence in the literature of a link between socioeconomic status and hip fracture morbidity and mortality. Studies have shown that people in more deprived groups have an increased risk of falling, sustaining a hip fracture, and mortality in the period following their fracture [4-8]. While hip fractures are a common injury in those who have fallen, these studies exclude other types of injury or causes of death which may follow a fall. Furthermore, these studies examine post-fracture outcomes in hospitalised cohorts rather than population-level mortality trends. In 2025, the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) identified falls prevention and management as one of five key clinical areas of health inequalities in older people (CORE20 PLUS 5 framework) [9]. In this project, we seek to investigate the effect of socioeconomic deprivation on overall falls-related mortality in England. We also seek to understand the effects of the pandemic on fall-related mortality, and identify any other periods of significant change in fall-related mortality rates.