1 in 7 Hospitalized Patients Admitted Due to 'Injury'… Half Involve Falls

One in seven patients hospitalized in Korea was admitted due to an injury, with more than half of these cases resulting from falls, according to recent data.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) released the 2024 National Hospital Discharge Injury Survey, which was conducted to identify the characteristics of patients hospitalized due to injuries.

An injury is defined as a physical or mental health problem or aftereffect caused by external factors, such as accidents and disasters, rather than by disease.

According to the statistics, there were 7,906,523 total hospitalizations in 2024. Among these, patients admitted due to injuries accounted for 15.5 percent, ranking first among all causes for admission.

While this figure is a 1.7 percentage point decrease compared to 10 years ago, it remains higher than the rate for digestive system diseases at 11.9 percent and cancer at 11.4 percent.


Falls were the leading cause of injury, accounting for 52.4 percent of all cases.

The hospitalization rate due to falls was 1.5 times higher for women, at 1,366 per 100,000, compared to 932 for men.

In particular, the hospitalization rate for injuries caused by falls among the elderly aged 75 and older was 15.8 times higher than that of the 0 to 14 age group.

The most common location for these injuries was on roads and highways, accounting for 25.1 percent of cases.

Women showed a higher incidence of injuries occurring in residential areas, while men had a relatively higher incidence of injuries occurring at industrial and construction sites.

(Photo: Provided by KDCA, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.