Risk Factors Responsible for Patients' Falls

Abstract

The study determined intrinsic factors which contributed to the falls of adults hospitalized in a general hospital during 1987-88. Two hundred and fourteen patients were studied in two groups. Group A consisted of 108 patients who fell during their hospitalization and control Group B consisted of 106 patients with the same characteristics also hospitalized during the same period who did not fall. Of the 23 variables which have been analyzed by the multivariate logistic regression method, seven present statistically significant incidence and increased risk of patients' falls: (1) gender: the number of accidents occurring among male patients was higher than that among females (p = 0.0022); (2) age: the majority of accidents occurred in the 65 greater than or equal to years old age group (p = 0.00426); (3) general pathological conditions: mostly patients with cardiac problems (p = 0.0062); (4) neoplasms (p = 0.0334); (5) anaemias (p = 0.0128); (6) post-operative conditions (p = 0.0063); and the taking of hypnotic/tranquilizer drugs (p = 0.0486). Other significant findings were: the highest incidence of falls occurred during the first 4 days of the patients' admission to hospital and most during the early morning hours (5-6 am). Injuries incurred were bruises (32.4%), minor injuries (24%), major injuries (16.7%) and fractures (10.2%). The high correlation between patients' falls and (1) specific diseases, namely neoplasms, anaemias, cardiac and post-operative conditions and (2) the taking of hypnotic/tranquilizer drugs are risk factors in relation to patients' falls in general hospitals.

Residual effects of zolpidem, triazolam, rilmazafone and placebo in healthy elderly subjects: a randomized double-blind study

“…Velde et al [13] reported that by decreasing or stopping hypnotics, which are thought to be one of the FRID, they morning [8][9][10]. The hypnotic effects that are seen when excreting at night or early in the morning may affect falls.…”

“…The association between the use of benzodiazepine (BZ) hypnotics in older adults and the risk of hip fracture is well established [4][5][6][7]. Quite a few fall events occur in the bedroom and the toilet/bathroom during the night or early morning [8][9][10]. However, there are other reports that the insomnia itself is more related to those accidents rather than the use of hypnotics [11][12][13].…”

Opinions of Nurses About the Evaluation of Risk of Falling Among Inpatients

“…Falls are one of the most common complications of many neurological diseases such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's (Soyuer, Soyuer, & € Ozt€ urk, 2006). It is indicated that postoperative stage caused falls (Plati, 1992;Berke & Eti, 2010). Nurses in this study described patient falls in units as most common during transfer, mobilization, sitting in a chair, or a bath.…”

“…Many studies have been conducted to identify the risk of patient falls and to develop certain standards to prevent them (Fischer et al, 2005;Hendrich et al, 2003;Houghton, Birks, Whitehead, & Crotty, 2004;Plati, Lanara, & Mantas, 1992;Rabadi, Rabadi, & Peterson, 2008). In a study conducted by Savci et al (2007) on the incidents of patient falls in units in Turkey, it was found that 53.7% of the patients in the study sample were at high risk of falling (Savcı et al, 2009).…”

The effect of a single haemodialysis session on functional mobility in older adults: a pilot study

“…Anaemia, which is almost universal in ESRD, is an independent risk factor for falls in the general population [15]. Multifactorial myopathy [16], vitamin D insufficiency [17,18], polypharmacy [19] and depression [20,21] are other accepted falls risk factors which are particularly common in the dialysis population.…”