@article{ref1,
title="Impact of falls within 3 months on the short-term prognoses of elderly patients in intensive care units: a retrospective cohort study using stabilized inverse probability treatment weighting",
journal="Clinical interventions in aging",
year="2022",
author="Cheng, Hongtao and Wang, Zichen and Gu, Wan-Jie and Yang, Xin and Song, Simeng and Huang, Tao and Lyu, Jun",
volume="17",
number="",
pages="1779-1792",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Falls are a major public health problem in the older adults that can lead to poor clinical outcomes. There have been few reports on the short-term prognoses of older critically ill patients, and so we sought to determine the impact of falls on elderly patients in intensive care units (ICUs). <br><br>PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study of 4503 patients (aged 65 years or older) analyzed data in the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-III critical care database. Of those, 2459 (54.6%) older adults are males, and 2044 (45.4%) older adults are females. Based on information from the medical care record assessment forms, patients were classified into the following two groups based on whether they had a fall within the previous 3 months: falls (n=1142) and nonfalls (n=3361). The primary outcomes of this study were 30- and 90-day mortality. Associations between the results of the Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival analysis, Cox proportional-hazards regression models, and subgroup analysis and its outcomes were analyzed using stabilized inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW). <br><br>RESULTS: KM survival curves with stabilized IPTW indicated that 30- and 90-day survival rates were significantly lower in elderly critically ill patients with a history of falls within the previous 3 months than in those patients without a history of falls (all p<0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis indicated that 30- and 90-day mortality rates were 1.35 times higher (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.16-1.57, p<0.001) and 1.36 times higher (95% CI=1.19-1.55, p<0.001), respectively, in elderly critically ill patients with a history of falls within the previous 3 months than in those patients without a history of falls. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Experience of falls within the previous 3 months prior to ICU admission increased the risk of short-term mortality and affected the prognoses of elderly patients. Falls should therefore receive adequate attention from clinical healthcare providers and management decision-makers.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1176-9092",
doi="10.2147/CIA.S387148",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S387148"
}