OBJECTIVES : Little is known about the cost-effectiveness of different types of interventions preventing falls in the diverse population of older adults. The aim of this systematic review was to summarize and critically assess the health economic evidence on interventions preventing falls in older adults.

METHODS : MEDLINE (via PubMed), Econlit (via Proquest), Embase (via embase.com), and Web of Science Core Collection (via Web of Science) were searched. Full health economic evaluations of interventions aimed at the prevention of falls and fall-related injuries in older adults aged 65 and older, published in English, Dutch, German or French between 1 July 2008 and 30 May 2018 were included. Data on general study characteristics and results were collected and tabulated. Two researchers independently assessed study quality with the Consensus Health Economic Criteria (CHEC) list.

RESULTS : Two independent researchers screened a total of 934 titles and abstracts for eligibility. Twenty-eight studies reported in 29 articles were included. Overall, interventions preventing falls were cost-effective compared to ‘no intervention’. For older adults living in the community, different types of single interventions compared to doing nothing were more often cost-effective than multifactorial interventions compared to doing nothing. Only five studies covered interventions for people living in care facilities. In this context, promising results were found for multifactorial interventions delivered by multidisciplinary teams and for vitamin D supplementation.

CONCLUSIONS : There is evidence supporting the health economic value of interventions preventing falls in older adults. The results should be interpreted in light of the great variability in the studies and general difficulties in comparing evidence from health economic evaluations.