Risk factors for falls in elderly living in old age home of Nepal

Abstract

Background: Falls are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality for persons aged 60 and older. When elders fall, they sustain such injuries as hip, spine, hand, and/or pelvic fractures. Even without injury, falls cause a loss of confidence that results in reduced physical activity, increased dependency, and social withdrawal. Objectives: The objective of this study was to study different risk factors related to falls in elderly living in old age homes of Nepal and also to determine demographic information of participants along with their association with fall injury or fall accidents. Methodology: 1:1 case control study was carried out to accomplish the objectives of this study. A total of 90 participants, 45 cases with fall injury and 45 controls with no fall injury were taken as sample. The well-structured questionnaire was used to identify the possible risk factors. Odd ratio was calculated as a mode of association between exposure and outcome. Results: Most of the elderly living in old age homes was of the age between 70 to 80 years, 64% were female, 36% were male and majority of participants 70% were illiterate. The risk factors for fall among elderly include need of minimal assistance for moving around old age homes (OR=3.6; 95% CI 1.13-11.2), elderly with mild frail for physical performance (OR=9.06; 95%CI 2.40-34.11), no positive Romberg‘s test (OR=2.7; 95% CI 1.03-6.85), gait (OR=.85; 95% CI .69-.99). Conclusion: The necessary preventive measures for those highly significant risk factors i.e. environmental hazards, physical performance, gait and co-ordination may help to prevent fall injury among elderly people living in old age homes of Nepal. Keywords: Elderly, fall injury, physical performance ABSTRACT