Prevalence, Consequence and Related Factors of Falling among the Elderly

Consequence and Related Factors of Falling among the Elderly

Abstract

Falling in the elderly is a serious problem because it can cause injury to disability and death. The purpose of this research was to survey the prevalence, impact and factors related to falling among socially dependent elderly group aged 60-70 years living in Lom Sak District between April-December 2020 by using a questionnaire. The results showed that the 278 elderly people, 66.2 % were female, the average age was 64 years, 81.3% had primary education, 45% were farmer, 48.6% had experienced falling in the past 6-12 months (an average of one fall in a cycle year). The most activities they did before falling were walking, followed by working and in a hurry up. The most common causes of the falling were skidding (25.9%), followed by an unsafe environment (e.g. wet/rough terrain). In this study, 24.8% of the elderly, 135 had fallen (48.6 percent prevalence of falls), and 77% suffered sprains, bruises, and abrasions, 38.1%, 30.7 and 13.1 percent, respectively. When injured, 54.8% had met a doctor or medical professional. The fell group, the fear of next fall was 2.8 times more than the group who never fell (Adj OR = 2.81, 95% CI 1.37-5.78, p = 0.005). Therefore, this information should be used in developing the designing of appropriate fall prevention activities.