Citation

Chang NT, Yang NP, Chou P. Aging Clin. Exp. Res. 2010; 22(1): 70-77.

Affiliation

Community Medicine Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.3275/6627

PMID

19934620

Abstract

Background and aims: Falls causing injuries among older people and the consequences of those injuries are of increasing concern to public health practitioners. The aims of this study were to determine the incidence, characteristics, and risk factors for falling injuries among the community-dwelling elderly in Shihpai, Taiwan; the impacts on quality of life and health service utilization were also comprehensively investigated. Methods: 1,361 community-dwelling elderly who had been enrolled in the Shihpai eye study (1999-2000) were included. The subjects were interviewed and examined by trained interviewers, and data such as demographics, medical conditions, blood pressure, ophthalmic examination, falling history and quality of life (SF-36) were collected. Chi-square tests, analyses of covariance and multiple logistic regressions were performed as the main statistical methods. Results: The mean age of the participants was 72.2 (range, 65-91) years old. 16.3% of the elderly persons interviewed had experienced at least one episode of falling; among those, up to half had suffered mild injuries, and the incidence of remarkable injury was 27.6%. There were no significant differences in the location and time of falling, but there were different risk factors and consequences among the injury severity strata. Fallers with remarkable injuries had a higher incidence of hospitalization and a greater fear of falling. No statistically significant decline in quality of life with increasing severity of falling injury was identified after a 12-month follow-up period. Conclusions: Gender, visual impairment and orthostatic hypotension were identified as the major risk factors of falling injury for the elderly. These identified factors should be emphasized in order to assist the prevention of falling injury in geriatrics.

Language: en