Premium
The Drop Attack
Author(s) -
LIPSITZ LEWIS A.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1983.tb04605.x
Subject(s) - medicine , etiology , epidemiology , quarter (canadian coin) , population , psychiatry , environmental health , pathology , history , archaeology
While the “drop attack” has been described in the British literature as a classic geriatric syndrome accounting for as many as one‐quarter of all falls in their elderly population, it is rarely acknowledged in discussions of falls by physicians in the United States. Is the drop attack a distinct entity that has been overlooked and under‐investigated in this country, or is it perhaps a symptom of a spectrum of diseases? This paper reviews the original descriptions of the drop attack for its characteristic features, and focuses on the epidemiology, etiology and clinical management of this common, but infrequently recognized, event.