Determinants of Falls in Community-Dwelling Elderly: Hierarchical Analysis

• Published in: Public health Nursing Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 290 - 297
• Main Authors: Brito, Thais Alves, Coqueiro, Raildo da Silva, Fernandes, Marcos Henrique, de Jesus, Cleber Souza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2014; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Accident prevention; accidental falls; Accidental Falls - statistics & numerical data; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Brazil - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression - epidemiology; Falls; Female; Health services; health services for the aged; Health Surveys; Humans; Independent Living; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Nursing; Older people; Poisson Distribution; Postural Balance - physiology; Prevalence; Regression Analysis; Risk Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Brazil; accidental falls; aged; health services for the aged
• ISSN: 0737-1209; 1525-1446
• DOI: 10.1111/phn.12126

Objective To analyze the fall‐related factors in community‐dwelling elderly. Design and Sample Epidemiologic cross‐sectional population‐based household study with hierarchical interrelationships among the potential risk factors. The sample was made up of noninstitutionalized individuals over age 60, who were resident of a city in Brazil's Northeast Region. Measures The dependent variable was fall occurrence in the last 12 months; independent variables were sociodemographic, behavioral, health, and functional status factors. Multivariate hierarchical Poisson regression analysis was used based on a proposed theoretic model. Results Three hundred and sixteen (89.0%) elderly participated of the survey, average age 74.2 years; the majority was female, with limited literacy and had low‐medium family income. The fall prevalence was of 25.8%; occurrence was related to depression symptoms (PR = 1.55) and balance limitation (PR = 1.56). Conclusions The high fall prevalence among elderly necessitates the identification of fall‐related factors for action planning prevention programs with this group.