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The regional ecology of elderly falls in Sweden

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Abstract

The study assesses exploratory the geography of the elderly fall in Sweden in relation to the ecology of the socio-demographic characteristics of the Swedes older population. Kendall Test is used to measure the association between elderly fall rates and demographic, socio-economic characteristics of the population, costs of elderly care and accessibility measures at county level. Results show a number of significant associations: high rates of the elderly fall are associated with high cost of the elderly care but also low rate of elderly fall and good accessibility to basic services (e.g., grocery store, health care and cash machines). The articles finalizes with reflections of the results and suggestions for future research.

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Notes

  1. According to WHO, the chronological age of 65 years has been accepted as a definition of ‘elderly’ or older persons in most of the developed world.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our particular appreciation to Lars Erik Lundberg Scholarship Foundation for funding the study.

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  1. Royal Institute of Technology, Drottning Kristinasväg 30, Stockholm, 10044, Sweden

    Roya Bamzar & Vania Ceccato

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  1. Roya Bamzar
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  2. Vania Ceccato
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Correspondence to Roya Bamzar.

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Bamzar, R., Ceccato, V. The regional ecology of elderly falls in Sweden. GeoJournal 81, 23–36 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-014-9594-2

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