Citation

Rucker D, Rowe BH, Johnson JA, Steiner IP, Russell AS, Hanley DA, Maksymowych WP, Holroyd BR, Harley CH, Morrish DW, Wirzba BJ, Majumdar SR. Prev. Med. 2006; 42(4): 316-319.

Affiliation

Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ypmed.2006.01.008

PMID

16488469

Abstract

OBJECTIVES.: Falls and fear of falling are a major health problem. We sought to determine the effectiveness of an educational intervention in reducing fear of falling and preventing recurrent falls in community-dwelling patients after a fragility fracture. METHODS.: One hundred two community-dwelling patients aged 50 years or older who fell and sustained a wrist fracture and were treated at Emergency Departments in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (2001-2002) were allocated to either standardized educational leaflets and post-discharge telephone counseling regarding fall prevention strategies ("intervention") or attention-controls ("controls"). Main outcomes were fear of falling and recurrent falls 3 months after fracture. RESULTS.: Mean age was 67 years and most patients were female (80%). The majority of falls (76%) leading to fracture occurred outdoors. Three months post-fracture, almost half of patients (48%) reported increased fear of falling and 11 of 102 (11%) reported falling again. The intervention did not reduce the fear of falling (43% had increased fear vs. 53% of controls, adjusted P value = 0.55) or decrease recurrent falls (17% fell vs. 5% of controls, adjusted P value = 0.059) within 3 months of fracture. CONCLUSIONS.: An educational intervention undertaken in the Emergency Department was no more effective than usual care in reducing fear of falling or recurrent falls in community-dwelling patients. Future strategies must address a number of dimensions beyond simple education.