Differing Risk Factors for Falls in Nursing Home and Intermediate‐Care Residents Who Can and Cannot Stand Unaided

Abstract

The findings indicate that there are different risk factors for falls for people living in residential aged care facilities who can and cannot stand unaided. These findings provide important information for developing fall-prevention strategies and suggest that those who can stand unaided but have multiple falls risk factors constitute the highest priority group for such interventions.

A comprehensive fracture prevention strategy in older adults: The European union geriatric medicine society (EUGMS) statement

“…Even though balance, gait, and muscle function decline increases the risk of falling, the relationship is not completely linear since those with most problems (i.e. bedridden) usually have a lower falls risk, similar to those without such problems, presumably due to low exposure to risk (29).…”

“…Other interventions have been ineffective or inconsistent for falls although the rate of recurrent falls may be reduced (35). A multifactorial and interprofessional approach, determined by individual assessment of functional, medical, and social concerns, may be a more appropriate strategy to prevent falls in older people at high risk of falling (20,(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)36). Moreover, this tailored approach (37) may provide opportunities to address previously unidenti ed health problems (e.g.…”

Consequences of sarcopenia among nursing home residents at long-term follow-up

“…Specifically, in the nursing homes environment risk of adverse events are already high, and associated to other factors such as increasing age, disease, extended sitting times, assisted transfers and the use of mobility aids. 22 As with mortality, sarcopenia may influence these markers of dependence, but be only one factor in geriatric decline that drives increased risk. In contrast, the interplay between depression and sarcopenia found here supports the association identified previously, 23 a relationship thought to be influenced by declining physical independence and poor health outcomes.…”

Nursing Home Safety: Current Issues and Barriers to Improvement

“…A nonlinear relationship has been observed between detailed measures of mobility and fall risk. Residents who had the highest risk of falling were those who could rise independently but not stand unaided, whereas those who had the lowest risk were residents who could do neither or both unaided (44).…”

“…Likely characteristics includes dementia (91), incontinence (44), and visual impairments (90). Not surprising, mobility is consistently found to be associated with fall risk.…”