Diversity in fall characteristics hampers effective prevention: the precipitants, the environment, the fall and the injury.
Osteoporos Int
; 28(10): 3005-3015, 2017 10.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28725985
ABSTRACT
Falls among the elderly are common and characteristics may differ between injurious and non-injurious falls. Among 887 older Australian women followed for 1.6 years, 32% fell annually. Only 8.5% resulted in fracture and/or hospital admission. The characteristics of those falls are indistinguishable from those not coming to medical attention. INTRODUCTION:
The precipitants and environment of all falls occurring among a large cohort of older Caucasian women were categorised by injury status to determine if the characteristics differed between injurious and non-injurious falls.METHODS:
Among 887 Australian women (70+ years), falls were ascertained using monthly postcard calendars and a questionnaire was administered for each fall. Hospital admissions and fractures were independently confirmed.RESULTS:
All falls were reported for a mean observation time of 577 (IQR 546-607) days per participant, equating to a total 1400 person-years. Thirty-two percent fell at least once per year. The most common features of a fall were that the faller was walking (61%) at home (61%) during the day (88%) and lost balance (32%). Only 12% of all falls occurred at night. Despite no difference in the type of injury between day and night, the likelihood of being hospitalised from a fall at night was 4.5 times greater than that of a daytime fall with adjustment for injury type and participant age (OR 4.5, 95% CI 2.1, 9.5; p < 0.001). Of all falls, approximately one third were associated with no injury to the faller (31%), one third reported a single injury (37%) and one third reported more than one injury (32%). In 95% of falls, the faller was not admitted to hospital. Only 5% of falls resulted in fracture(s).CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings demonstrate the significant diversity of precipitants and environment where falls commonly occur among older community-dwelling women. Falls resulting in fracture and/or hospital admission collectively represent 8.5% of all falls and their characteristics are indistinguishable from falls not coming to medical attention and incurring no apparent cost to the health system.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Ferimentos e Lesões
/
Acidentes por Quedas
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Osteoporos Int
Assunto da revista:
METABOLISMO
/
ORTOPEDIA
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Austrália