Relationship between increased risk of falling and cognitive impairment in residents of an elderly home in the Colombo district

Abstract

Tendency to falling in older people, with and without cognitive impairment, living in an elderly home was assessed. A descriptive analytical study was carried out with 50 elderly people (25 males) aged between 60 - 85 years. Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and, Five Times Sit to Stand Test (FTSST) were used to determine risk of falling and functional lower extremity strength of each participant. The Folstein Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were used to assess cognition.The cognitive scores were significantly lower in fallers compared to non-fallers (p=0.0001). Fallers demonstrated significantly poor lower extremity strength (p=0.0001). Older people with cognitive impairment demonstrated poor functional lower extremity strength than those without cognitive impairement (p=0.002). The difference in falling tendency between males and females was not statistically significant.

Characteristics of the elderly patients admitted to surgical casualty due to falls: a study from northern Sri Lanka.

“…Twenty two percent of our study population had some degree of memory impairment. In a study conducted in Colombo amongst residents of an elderly home 66% of elders demonstrating mild to severe cognitive deficits based on MMSE and MoCA [11]. The WHO Global report on falls prevention also reports similar figures [2].…”

Sri Lanka Elderly Study: Phase 1 (SLES:1) – A descriptive study of the health status and physiological parameters of institutionalized elderly in Colombo district: The protocol

“…This study will be conducted to evaluate the health of the elders living in elderly homes in Colombo with a holistic approach. Individual studies have been conducted to assess different components like nutritional status in residents of elderly homes 10 , relationship between risk of falls and cognitive functions 22 , assessment of dependency in primary care using Barthel index 30 . There is paucity of data regarding lung function in elders in Sri Lanka.…”

“…A TUG time is the time in seconds a participant needed to complete the test. 13.5 seconds will be considered normal (non-fallers) and >13.5 seconds will be considered those with high prediction for falls (fallers) 22 .…”

“…The test will be stopped when the patient achieves the standing position on the 5th repetition. 15 seconds -normal; indicates functional level of lower extremity strength 22 .…”

Relación entre el riesgo de caídas y deterioro cognitivo en adultos mayores atendidos en el Centro Médico Naval “Cirujano Mayor Santiago Távara” 2010-2015*

“…En nuestro estudio, el deterioro cognitivo se asoció al riesgo de caídas según AF, pues encontramos que los adultos mayores con deterioro cognitivo tienen mayor probabilidad de riesgo de caídas, con una razón de prevalencias que triplica las probabilidades de tener un AF alterado, en un modelo ajustado por educación, número de comorbilidades, polifarmacia y edad. Este hallazgo está en línea con otros estudios como el de Seijo-Martínez et al, [23] y Gómez et al, [24] donde el estado cognitivo de los adultos mayores tuvo una asociación estadísticamente significativa con el riesgo de caídas, demostrando que a mayor severidad de deterioro cognitivo en el adulto mayor se incrementa la probabilidad del riesgo de caídas; de manera similar, Thanthrige et al, [25] y Azevedo et al, [26] evidenciaron también, la relación existente entre el desempeño cognitivo y el riesgo de caídas.…”