Risky Business: Factors That Increase Risk of Falls Among Older Adult In-Patients

In hospitals, older patients are at increased risk of falling multiple times. This study incorporated an epidemiologic cross-sectional design consisting of 4,348 older patients (≥65-year-old). Eight hundred eighty five (20.4%) in-patients experienced multiple falls while remaining participants had o...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gracie Hodgson MPH, Alex Pace MSc, Quinten Carfagnini MSc, Anteneh Ayanso PhD, Pauli Gardner PhD, Miya Narushima PhD, Zeau Ismail MBA, Brent E. Faught PhD
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2023-07-01
Series:Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/23337214231189930
Description
Summary:In hospitals, older patients are at increased risk of falling multiple times. This study incorporated an epidemiologic cross-sectional design consisting of 4,348 older patients (≥65-year-old). Eight hundred eighty five (20.4%) in-patients experienced multiple falls while remaining participants had one fall incident. A patient fall event was recorded with age, sex, incident date, type of fall, and location. Logistic regression assessed risk factors found in patients with multiple falls compared to those with one fall. Significant differences were observed in the proportion of multiple falls: in a bed with no rails, standing, walking, and using a wheel/Geri chair ( p  < .05). Overall, sex, type of fall, and location were significant in predicting multiple falls ( p  < .05). Male patients were at 16.1% greater risk of multiple falls, when compared to females ( p  < .05). A fall in complex care, mental health, or respirology were more likely to experience multiple falls ( OR  = 2.659, 3.620, 1.593 respectively), while season had no impact.
ISSN:2333-7214