The risk of an accidental fall increases rapidly with age, and higher levels are evident in people living alone, people with existing medical conditions, and people living in more deprived areas. Most falls occur within the home. There were 3,259 emergency hospital admissions due to falls in 2012-13 in Devon for people aged 65 and over. However, the rate in Devon is the second lowest in the South West and the second lowest in Devon’s local authority group. Age standardised admission rates have remained consistently higher in the most deprived deprivation quintile. Whilst the gap narrowed in 2012-13, the rate in the most deprived areas was still 47% higher than the least deprived areas. Around 14,080 people living in Devon are estimated to have dementia in 2015, representing 1.84% of the population, which is set to rise to 25,227 by 2035, when it will affect around 2.97% of the population. Districts with an older age profile such as East Devon have a higher percentage of the population living with dementia. The biggest shifts over the next 20 years will be in the 90 and over age group.
For the full detail visit the health and wellbeing pages: http://www.devonhealthandwellbeing.org.uk/jsna/