The TRIL Centre announces Falls Awareness Day 2012
To raise awareness of the importance of falls prevention, the TRIL Centre will demonstrate its technology at a stand in St. James’s Hospital Dublin on Falls Awareness Day, Thursday 4October, with support from the Falls and Black Out Unit (FABU) at the hospital.
One in three people over the age of 65 will fall every year in Ireland. Two-thirds of this group will fall again within six months, leading to risk of hospitalisation and significant health decline.
As well as physical injuries suffered, the psychological and social consequences of falling can have a huge impact on the faller. People who fall may suffer depression, anxiety, isolation and loss of independence.
In addition a recent study by The Irish Centre for Social Gerontology showed that the cost to the Irish economy of falls and fractures in older people is about €500 million annually. This includes costs associated with emergency department visits, hospital stays, GP and outpatient visits and long-term care.
Falls in older people can be prevented by increasing awareness of falls risks. The TRIL Centre is at the forefront of using novel sensor technology and algorithms to quantify risk of falling. This technology, the Falls Risk Assessment Suite, aims to improve accuracy in assessing falls risk and mobility, resulting in more targeted interventions.
The technology suite has been developed on a mobile platform using wireless sensors and enables sophisticated falls risk assessment to be undertaken in the home or community.
The TRIL Centre is conducting leading edge research that is uncovering the physical, biological and psychological factors behind falls in older people. In conjunction with researchers based at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Intel Ireland and GE Healthcare the TRIL Centre is at the forefront of using novel sensor technology to predict risk of falling and pointing the way to better diagnosis and management.
Speaking about the need to predict risk of falling, Professor Rose Anne Kenny, TRIL Principal Investigator for Falls Prevention said, "The EU has targeted falls prevention as one of its main priorities for health research in ageing. Falls become more common as we age and the consequences of falls, such as fractures, also increase. Unfortunately recurrent falls often result in admission to long term care. Therefore early detection of treatable conditions which cause falls can prevent these serious consequences. These new technologies provide such early detection."
This is the second Falls Awareness Day the TRIL Centre has organised and this year it coincides with Get Ireland Active’s Positive Ageing Week.
The TRIL Centre has undertaken a substantial ageing research programme that has resulted in over 240 publications, the creation of 15 technologies and the trialling of technologies in the homes of over 500 older people.
TRIL is funded by Intel, GE Healthcare and IDA Ireland.
ENDS
1 October 2012
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, University College Dublin, Communications Manager (Innovation), t: + 353 1 716 3712, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie or Keelin Murphy, TRIL Communications Manager, t: 353 87 668 9474.
Editors Notes
The Technology Research for Independent Living (TRIL) Centre and clinic were established to develop competitive, state of the art technologies for ageing given global opportunities in ageing demographics. Based at St James’s Hospital, the TRIL Clinic is an innovative hub of research and innovation involving clinical (St James’s Hospital), industry (Intel) and academic (UCD/TCD) researchers. www.trilcentre.org
Referenced report - The economic costs of falls and fractures in people aged 65 and over in Ireland, technical report to NCAOP/HSE/DOHC by Brenda Gannon, Eamon O’Shea and Eibhlin Hudson, Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, National University of Ireland Galway.
