Citation

Haga H, Yasumura S, Niino N, Ueno H, Oshima M, Higuchi Y. Nippon Koshu Eisei Zasshi 1996; 43(11): 983-988.

Affiliation

Division of Public Health, School of Nursing and Social Services, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Nippon Koshu Eisei Zasshi)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9033213

Abstract

This study examined the concordance of two reporting methods for falls (3 month and 12 month recall) experienced by elderly living in a rural community. Four interview surveys on the occurrence of falls over a 3 month period were conducted from 1992 to 1993 every three months. In the final interview, subjects were also asked about the occurrence of falls during the past 12 months. A total of 799 subjects (270 men, 529 women) aged 65 and over, living in a village of Niigata Prefecture, responded to all four surveys. The incidence of falls in one year was 19.0% by the 3 month recall, and 19.1% by the 12 month recall. Overall agreement of fall occurrence between the two methods was 98.9%, and a coefficient of kappa as a measure of concordance was 0.96. On the other hand, subjects who sustained injuries during falls reported in the 3 month reporting did not necessarily recall having a fall when interviewed at the end of the study. In any case, this study reveals that for surveying falls by the elderly living in the community a 1 year recall is a reliable method, because of the high agreement of fall occurrence when comparing the two methods.

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