RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: This work seeks to calculate the prevalence of falls in the last 12 months among the elderly from the community of the city of Uberaba; verify the occurrence of falls in the elderly of the community according to sociodemographic and health characteristics; and identify and group the types of falls among the older individuals in the city of Uberba. METHODS: Cross-sectional study carried out with 612 elderly people living in the urban area of Uberaba. Descriptive and bivariate analyzes were performed using the chi-square test (p<0.05). The kernel density estimation was used to estimate the intensity of the events. This project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee through Protocol No. 573.833. RESULTS: It was found that 24.7% of the elderly had falls in the last 12 months. The highest proportion of the elderly who suffered falls was female (p=0.004); aged 80 years or more (p=0.001); illiterate (p=0.026); who lived alone (p=0.049); without partner (p=0.002); with negative self-perception of health (p<0.001); dependent for BADL (p=0.049) and IALD (p=0.027); with a lower participation in AADL (p=0.003); pre-fragile/fragile (p<0.001); and with low/poor physical performance (p<0.001). The clusters with the most frequently reported falls were in the center-west region of the city, followed by the southeast region. CONCLUSION: To know the profile and the factors associated with the occurrence of falls among the elderly allows health professionals to develop actions directed to prevent, monitor and control these factors.