Falls and fear of falling predict future falls and related injuries in ambulatory individuals with spinal cord injury: a longitudinal observational study

• Published in: Journal of physiotherapy Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 108 - 113
• Main Authors: Jørgensen, Vivien, Butler Forslund, Emelie, Opheim, Arve, Franzén, Erika, Wahman, Kerstin, Hultling, Claes, Seiger, Åke, Ståhle, Agneta, Stanghelle, Johan K, Roaldsen, Kirsti S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.04.2017
• Subjects: Accidental falls; Fall-related injury; Incidence; Incomplete spinal cord injury; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Multivariate logistic regression; Other; Incomplete spinal cord injury; Fall-related injury; Accidental falls; Multivariate logistic regression; Incidence
• ISSN: 1836-9553; 1836-9561; 1836-9561
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jphys.2016.11.010

Abstract Question What is the 1-year incidence of falls and injurious falls in a representative cohort of community-dwelling ambulatory individuals with chronic spinal cord injury? What are the predictors of recurrent falls (more than two/year) and injurious falls in this population? Design One-year longitudinal observational multi-centre study. Participants A representative sample of 68 (of 73 included) community-dwelling ambulatory individuals with traumatic SCI attending regular follow-up programs at rehabilitation centres. Outcome measures Primary outcome measures were incidence and predictors of recurrent falls (more than two/year) and injurious falls reported every 2 weeks for 1 year. Results A total of 48% of participants reported recurrent falls. Of the 272 reported falls, 41% were injurious. Serious injuries were experienced by 4% of participants, all of whom were women. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that recurrent falls in the previous year (OR = 111, 95% CI = 8.6 to 1425), fear of falling (OR = 6.1, 95% CI = 1.43 to 26) and longer time taken to walk 10 m (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.0 to 1.7) were predictors of recurrent falls. Fear of falling (OR = 4.3, 95% CI = 1.3 to 14) and recurrent falls in the previous year (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 1.2 to 14) were predictors of injurious falls. Conclusion Ambulatory individuals have a high risk of falling and of fall-related injuries. Fall history, fear of falling and walking speed could predict recurrent falls and injurious falls. Further studies with larger samples are needed to validate these findings. [Jørgensen V, Butler Forslund E, Opheim A, Franzén E, Wahman K, Hultling C, Seiger Å, Ståhle A, Stanghelle JK, Roaldsen KS (2017) Falls and fear of falling predict future falls and related injuries in ambulatory individuals with spinal cord injury: a longitudinal observational study. Journal of Physiotherapy XX: XX-XX]