TY - JOUR
PY - 2013//
TI - Effectiveness of preventive home visits in reducing the risk of falls in old age: a randomized controlled trial
JO - Clinical interventions in aging
A1 - Luck, Tobias
A1 - Motzek, Tom
A1 - Luppa, Melanie
A1 - Matschinger, Herbert
A1 - Fleischer, Steffen
A1 - Sesselmann, Yves
A1 - Roling, Gudrun
A1 - Beutner, Katrin
A1 - König, Hans-Helmut
A1 - Behrens, Johann
A1 - Riedel-Heller, Steffi G.
SP - 697
EP - 702
VL - 8
IS -
N2 - BACKGROUND: Falls in older people are a major public health issue, but the underlying causes are complex. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive home visits as a multifactorial, individualized strategy to reduce falls in community-dwelling older people. METHODS: Data were derived from a prospective randomized controlled trial with follow-up examination after 18 months. Two hundred and thirty participants (≥80 years of age) with functional impairment were randomized to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received up to three preventive home visits including risk assessment, home counseling intervention, and a booster session. The control group received no preventive home visits. Structured interviews at baseline and follow-up provided information concerning falls in both study groups. Random-effects Poisson regression evaluated the effect of preventive home visits on the number of falls controlling for covariates. RESULTS: Random-effects Poisson regression showed a significant increase in the number of falls between baseline and follow-up in the control group (incidence rate ratio 1.96) and a significant decrease in the intervention group (incidence rate ratio 0.63) controlling for age, sex, family status, level of care, and impairment in activities of daily living. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that a preventive home visiting program can be effective in reducing falls in community-dwelling older people. Language: en
LA - en
SN - 1176-9092
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S43284
ID - ref1
ER -