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Falls and fall-related injuries are leading problems in residential aged care facilities. The objective of this study was to provide descriptive data about falls in nursing homes.

Prospective recording of all falls over 1 year covering all residents from 528 nursing homes in Bavaria, Germany.

Falls were reported on a standardized form that included a facility identification code, date, time of the day, sex, age, degree of care need, location of the fall, and activity leading to the fall. Data detailing homes' bed capacities and occupancy levels were used to estimate total person-years under exposure and to calculate fall rates. All analyses were stratified by residents' degree of care need.

More than 70,000 falls were recorded during 42,843 person-years. The fall rate was higher in men than in women (2.18 and 1.49 falls per person-year, respectively …