Seniors vulnerable to taking a tumble

0 Comments | USA TODAY, April, 2007 | by Mary Brophy Marcus

Kurt Vonnegut was, many agree, an extraordinary writer, but he died from an all-too-ordinary occurrence, experts on aging say. The 84-year-old novelist died April 11 after his brain was injured in a fall.

One in three adults over 65 fall each year, and that figure has increased significantly in the past decade, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. That statistic inches up with each birthday, says Mary Tinetti, professor of medicine, epidemiology and public health and director of the Yale Program on Aging at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

"Half of people over 80 suffer a fall each year," she says.

Falls typically occur when a person is doing everyday activities. "Walking on a loose rug, a misstep on the stair, an icy...