Fall-Related Emergency Department Visits Among Adults With and Without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities or Cerebral Palsy.

Abstract

Although older adults (>65 years of age) are considered the highest-risk population for fall-related injuries, adults with intellectual and/or developmental disability (IDD) or cerebral palsy (CP) are also at increased fall risk. We aimed to compare the incidence of fall-related emergency department (ED) visits with injury and age-related trends among adults aged 18-80 years with IDD or CP and a non-IDD/CP comparison group using the 2019 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Emergency Department Databases. Fall-related ED visits with injury represented a greater proportion of ED visits among adults with IDD or CP compared with adults without. Among adults aged 62-65 years with no IDD/CP, 7.3% of ED visits were for falls with injury. Similar incidences of fall with injury were found at earlier ages among adults with IDD (aged 42-45 years) or CP (aged 34-41 years). Clinicians should consider screening for fall risk at younger ages among patients with IDD or CP.