TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Frailty as a Predictor of Falls in Older Mexican Americans
JO  - Journal of aging and health
A1  - Samper-Ternent, Rafael
A1  - Karmarkar, Amol
A1  - Graham, James
A1  - Reistetter, Tim
A1  - Ottenbacher, Ken
SP  - 641
EP  - 653
VL  - 24
IS  - 4
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Examine the relationship between frailty and falls. METHOD: A total of 847 Mexican Americans from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly were evaluated. The outcome variable was fall occurrence. Some predictor variables included were frailty, sociodemographic variables, functional and health status, and prior falls. RESULTS: Those who fell were more likely to be women, not married, had prior falls, more functional problems and poorer health. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) for falls was 1.9 for nonfrail individuals and 3.2 for frail individuals. Prefrail individuals had 1.36 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.11, 1.67]), individuals with prior falls had 1.26 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.15, 1.37]), and those with poor balance had 1.49 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.15, 1.95]) over the 2 years (p < .01). DISCUSSION: Frailty increases the odds of falls in older Mexican Americans. Interventions tailored to reduce fall incidence and improve health care quality for older Mexican Americans are needed.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0898-2643
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0898264311428490
ID  - ref1
ER  -