Incidence and Factors Associated with Fall among the Community-Dwelling Elderly, Suratthani

Abstract

The purpose of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to determine the incidence of and risk factor for fall among the community-dwelling elderly and to examine the factors associated with fall among the community-dwelling elderly. The total sample of 206 elderly aged 60 years old and over, who live in Bang-Bai-Mai, Tambol Bang-Bai-Mai, Muang district, Suratthani province participated in the study. The data were collected using an incident and risk factor of fall questionnaire, the Cronbach’s alpha of .88. The data were collected during March-May 2016. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, and multiple logistic regression.

The results revealed that 1) the participants experienced with fall in the past year was 26.20%; 2) fall risk factor among the participants who experienced with fall were the following: the majority of the participants were female (75.90%), aged 70-79 (48.10%), able to perform on an activities of daily living without assistance (85.20%), moderately ability to move (53.70%), history of use of multiple medications (63%), cardiovascular medication use (48.10%), diabetes medication use (81.50%), drinking alcohol (3.70%), and inappropriate dressing (22.20%) and 3) the factor related to fall among the participants were the following: age 80 years old and over (OR = .180, 95% CI = .050-.630, p < .01), activities of daily living capacity (OR = 4.350, 95% CI = 1.030-18.250, p < .05), poor ability to move (OR = 5.760, 95% CI = 2.580-12.850, p < .01), diabetes medication use (OR = 3.880, 95% CI = 1.070-14.070, p < .05), and inappropriate dressing (OR = 8.720, 95% CI = 2.530-30.040, p < .01).

Therefore, the results suggested that health care providers should implement fall screening for the elderly who are at risk for fall in the community by using holistic assessment tool for fall risk factor as well as plan for fall prevention among the elderly in the community, especially in the group of the elderly who have poor ability to move.