A profile of elderly fallers referred for physiotherapy in the emergency department of a Dublin teaching hospital (original) (raw)
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The Incidence of Fall and Past History of Falling in Aged Hospitalized Patients
International Journal of Health Studies, 2019
Background: Identifying elderly people with the risk of fall in hospitals is particularly important for prevention of falls. Review of literature suggested that the association between falls and some characteristics of geriatric inpatients. The aim of this study was to determine the predisposing factors of falling among the elderly hospitalized patients. Methods: In this descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study, 1213 elderly hospitalized patients, 60 years old and above recruited to participate in the study. Of all participant 385 subjects met the inclusion criteria of the study. Data collected from a secondary study on falls which was conducted from March to December 2016. A demographic questionnaire and Johns Hopkins fall risk assessment tool were used to evaluate the falls incident and risk of fall among the elderly people. The scores were analyzed by SPSS software version 16. Chi square test and exact test of Fisher and logistic regression were employed for data analysis. Significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The mean of age in the subjects was 71.68 + 8.32 years old. Off all 385 eligible aged hospitalized patients, the rate of falls estimated to be 1.05 per 1000 bed-day. Approximately 12% of cases experienced at least one fall during hospitalization period. According to the results of logistic regression analysis, the most predisposing factors for falls in hospital was the past history of falling with odds ratio of 12.7. Moreover, older age (age ≥ 80 years old), use of medication/equipment, low cognitive ability, and polypharmacy with odds ratios of 2.63, 1.49, 2.26, 0.988, and 3.34 were related to the falling in the past, respectively. Conclusions: The results of the study indicated that the incident of falls among geriatric patients were relatively low, due to clinical interventions in hospital to prevent falls or to routine underestimation and under report of falls.
Journal of Pre-Clinical and Clinical Research, 2015
Introduction. Falls are included among the geriatric giants, as their consequences in older people are major in terms of nursing, medical, social and economic problems. In the case of elders they can lead to fractures and, consequently, even to death. Materials and method. The study retrospectively analysed the medical records of 455 cases of injuries resulting from falls among patients over 65 years of age. Data was gathered in the Emergency Department (ER) of the Independent Public Clinical Hospital No. 1 in Lublin, Poland. The analysis included patients who visited the ER during the period 01.05.2009-30.04.2010. Results. Elderly patients hospitalized in the ER within the given period accounted for 8.10% of all patients. Most of patients over 65 years of age were admitted in December due to falls; slightly fewer cases were recorded in March and April. Mondays and Saturdays were the days of the week with the highest number of reports of elderly patients. Analysis of the collected data incorporating further treatment showed that the great majority of injured patients did not require hospitalization and were discharged home. In the analyzed population of older people, damage to upper and lower limbs dominated, followed by injuries to the head, chest and abdomen. Conclusion. Falls are a major cause of reduced quality of life, disability and death in older people. There are important factors in limb fractures (90%-100%). Preventing falls is a difficult and underestimated problem. There is a need of implementing preventative measures in the case of falls in elderly patients.
Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo
Introduction/Objective. The aim of this study was to identify the elderly who are at increased risk of falling, as well as the risk factors for falls in the general population. Methods. This cross sectional study included a random sample of 400 people (164 men and 236 women) with the average age of 75.04 (65?94) years selected from the Register of the Primary Health Center in Nis, Serbia. Socio-demographic questionnaire, the Elderly Fall Screening Test, and the Multi-factor Falls Questionnaire were used. Odds ratio (OR) was evaluated and adjusted for gender, age, marital status, education level, and self-assessment of the health state. Results. The risk of falling and risk factors for falls were as follows: age [odds ratio (OR) = 1.129, confidence interval (CI) = 1.067?1.196], health self-assessed as good (OR = 0.365; CI = 0.142?0.938), limitation of activities (OR = 7.189; CI = 3.559?14.522), walking problems (OR = 2.153; CI = 1.046?4.428), osteoporosis (OR = 4.611; CI = 1.231?17.2...
International Journal of Gerontology, 2009
Background: Falls account for considerable morbidity and mortality among older people. In Hong Kong, various falls prevention programs have been held in recent years, usually as tai chi exercises, for non-targeted groups of older people. We evaluated whether such a falls prevention approach addresses the needs of the elderly who presented to the accident and emergency (A&E) department with a fall. Methods: Detailed determination of the profile of people aged 60 years and older presenting with a fall to the A&E of a regional hospital over a 1-year period was carried out. Information regarding their health profile including morbidity, comorbidities, medication use, self-perceived health status and body mass index were collected and used for comparison with the health profile of the general elderly population derived from two local large-scale surveys.
Falls in Geriatric Population- A Cross Sectional Study for Assessment of the Risk Factors
Objective: To assess the risk factors for falls in geriatric population of aged 60 and above Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from September to December 2012 on geriatric population of age 60 and above. A total of 100 participants were selected through consecutive sampling technique. Personal interviews were conducted. Chi square test was applied as the test of significance for finding association between falls and risk factors. P value less than 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: A total of 100 participants were included in the study, male and female ratio was 2:3. A large portion of participants had a history of fall as 45% said they had also fallen previously while the remaining 55% gave no history of fall. Fractures were the outcome of 51% of the falls that were included into this study. Majority fractures observed were in the lower limb (59%), Majority of the participants, 51% gave slipping or tripping over some object as the reason of their fall only one third 33% were in the affirmative that physiotherapists can bring a change in their lifestyle. The time of fall as mentioned by the participants was for the majority in the morning as 56% falls occurred before noon. Conclusion: Approximately fifty percent of the falls had resulted in fractures especially of the lower limb. Life style modifications that can help in minimizing the risk of falls should be incorporated in daily life to avert harmful consequences.
Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo, 2017
Introduction/Objective. The aim of this study was to identify the elderly who are at increased risk of falling, as well as the risk factors for falls in the general population. Methods. This cross sectional study included a random sample of 400 people (164 men and 236 women) with the average age of 75.04 (65?94) years selected from the Register of the Primary Health Center in Nis, Serbia. Socio-demographic questionnaire, the Elderly Fall Screening Test, and the Multi-factor Falls Questionnaire were used. Odds ratio (OR) was evaluated and adjusted for gender, age, marital status, education level, and self-assessment of the health state. Results. The risk of falling and risk factors for falls were as follows: age [odds ratio (OR) = 1.129, confidence interval (CI) = 1.067?1.196], health self-assessed as good (OR = 0.365; CI = 0.142?0.938), limitation of activities (OR = 7.189; CI = 3.559?14.522), walking problems (OR = 2.153; CI = 1.046?4.428), osteoporosis (OR = 4.611; CI = 1.231?17.2...
Analyzing the problem of falls among older people
International journal of general medicine, 2012
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Physiotherapy Canada, 2009
Purpose: To identify current practice for elderly individuals who have sustained a fall-related injury and subsequently presented to the emergency department (ED) of a community-based hospital in Toronto, Ontario. Methods: A retrospective longitudinal chart review was conducted for 300 persons, 65 years of age and older, who presented to the ED of a communitybased teaching hospital with a fall from June 2004 through May 2005. Data were collected using a tool created by the investigators (based on information gathered through a literature review) to capture information related to risk factors for falling. Results: Our study sample was demographically similar to elderly individuals in other fall-related studies. Most patients discharged directly from the ED did not receive multidisciplinary care. In the ED, all patients saw a nurse or physician, while only 1.3% (n ¼ 4) saw a physical therapist, 3.0% (n ¼ 9) saw an occupational therapist, and 5.3% (n ¼ 16) saw a social worker. At discharge, 62% (n ¼ 152) had no documented referral for follow-up care. Abilities related to falls in elderly individuals were not consistently assessed in the ED. Frequency of assessment for these abilities was as follows: (1) gait, 10.2%;