The elderly are involved in 30% of domestic accidents and almost always it involves falling, which is also the most common domestic accident in general, a new report said on Tuesday.
Falling is the first cause for hospitalization and death following a domestic accident as well, the study added.
Each year one third of the population over 65 years of age is the victim of a fall at an "extraordinary human, social and material cost," the report observed.
"The cost of hospitalization for domestic accidents alone in Italy totals almost 400 million euros," the report added.
The report was published by the the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at the Higher Institute of Health (ISS) and is designed to be a manual for the prevention of domestic accidents among the elderly.
