Citation

Hung CH, Wang CJ, Tang TC, Chen LY, Peng LN, Hsiao FY, Chen LK. Arch. Gerontol. Geriatr. 2017; 70: 214-218.

Affiliation

Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Aging and Health Research Center, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: lkchen2@vghtpe.gov.tw.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.archger.2017.02.001

PMID

28214764

Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of recurrent falls and their risk factors among older men living in the Veterans Homes in Taiwan.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study enrolled 871 residents and all participants received the comprehensive geriatric assessment, including Barthel Index, Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale-5 questions (GDS-5), Mini-Nutrition Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF), the status of urinary incontinence, stool incontinence, polypharmacy, past history of falls, multimorbidity, and medication history.

RESULTS: Overall, 871 subjects (mean age: 85.5±5.2years, all males) participated in this study, whereas 222(25.5%) of them had experienced falls in the past year, and 91 were recurrent fallers. Comparisons between non-fallers, single fallers and recurrent fallers disclosed that they were significantly different in the following characteristics: diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), Barthel Index, GDS-5, MNA-SF, polypharmacy, use of hypnotics, urinary incontinence, and stool incontinence (P for trend all <0.05). Multiple regression analysis identified that GDS-5 was significantly associated with single falls and recurrent falls (OR 1.256, 95% CI 1.094-1.441, P=0.001 for single fallers; OR 1.480, 95% CI 1.269-1.727, P<0.001 for recurrent fallers). Besides, urinary incontinence was the independently associated with recurrent fallers only (OR 2.369, 95% CI 1.449-3.817, P<0.001), but not single fallers.

CONCLUSION: Urinary incontinence and depressive symptoms were independent associated factors for falls among older men living in the retirement communities. However, urinary incontinence was associated with recurrent falls, but not single falls. Intervention study is needed to reduce recurrent falls through management of urinary incontinence.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Depression; Fall; Long term care; Recurrent fall