Citation

Henry-Sánchez JT, Kurichi JE, Xie D, Pan Q, Stineman MG. Am. J. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2012; 91(7): 601-610.

Affiliation

From the Hospital de La Concepción (JTH-S), San Germán, Puerto Rico; and Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (JEK, DX, QP, MGS), and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (MGS), School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/PHM.0b013e31825596af

PMID

22561383

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore how activity of daily living (ADL) stages and the perception of unmet needs for home accessibility features associate with a history of falling. DESIGN: Participants were from a nationally representative sample from the Second Longitudinal Survey of Aging conducted in 1994. The sample included 9250 community-dwelling persons 70 yrs or older. The associations of ADL stage and perception of unmet needs for home accessibility features with a history of falling within the past year (none, once, or multiple times) were explored after accounting for sociodemographic characteristics and comorbidities using a multinomial logistic regression model. RESULTS: The adjusted relative risk of falling more than once peaked at 4.30 (95% confidence interval, 3.29-5.61) for persons with severe limitation (ADL-III) compared those with no limitation (ADL-0) then declined for those at complete limitation (ADL-IV). The adjusted relative risks of falling once and multiple times were 1.42 (95% confidence interval, 1.07-1.87) and 1.85 (95% confidence interval, 1.44-2.36), respectively, for those lacking home accessibility features. CONCLUSIONS: Risk of falling appeared greatest for those whose homes lacked accessibility features and peaked at intermediate ADL limitation stages, presumably at a point when people have significant disabilities but sufficient function to remain partially active.

Language: en