TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - A multidisciplinary intervention to prevent subsequent falls and health service use following fall-related paramedic care: a randomised controlled trial
JO  - Age and ageing
A1  - Howard, Kirsten
A1  - Bendall, Jason
A1  - Caplan, Gideon A.
A1  - Simpson, Paul
A1  - Tiedemann, Anne
A1  - Lord, Stephen R.
A1  - Mikolaizak, A. Stefanie
A1  - Webster, Lyndell
A1  - Payne, Narelle
A1  - Hamilton, Sarah
A1  - Lo, Joanne
A1  - Ramsay, Elisabeth
A1  - O'Rourke, Sandra
A1  - Roylance, Linda
A1  - Close, J. C.
SP  - 200
EP  - 207
VL  - 46
IS  - 2
N2  - BACKGROUND: approximately 25% of older people who fall and receive paramedic care are not subsequently transported to an emergency department (ED). These people are at high risk of future falls, unplanned healthcare use and poor health outcomes. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the impact of a fall-risk assessment and tailored fall prevention interventions among older community-dwellers not transported to ED following a fall on subsequent falls and health service use. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: Randomised controlled trial involving 221 non-transported older fallers from Sydney, Australia. INTERVENTION: the intervention targeted identified risk factors and used existing services to implement physiotherapy, occupational therapy, geriatric assessment, optometry and medication management interventions as appropriate. The control group received individualised written fall prevention advice. MEASUREMENTS: primary outcome measures were rates of falls and injurious falls. Secondary outcome measures were ambulance re-attendance, ED presentation, hospitalisation and quality of life over 12 months. Analysis was by intention-to-treat and per-protocol according to self-reported adherence using negative binominal regression and multivariate analysis. <br><br>RESULTS: ITT analysis showed no significant difference between groups in subsequent falls, injurious falls and health service use. The per-protocol analyses revealed that the intervention participants who adhered to the recommended interventions had significantly lower rates of falls compared to non-adherers (IRR: 0.53 (95% CI : 0.32-0.87)). <br><br>CONCLUSION: a multidisciplinary intervention did not prevent falls in older people who received paramedic care but were not transported to ED. However the intervention was effective in those who adhered to the recommendations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: the trial is registered at the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN 12611000503921, 13/05/2011.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-0729
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afw190
ID  - ref1
ER  -