Risk factors for falls in older adults in a South African Urban Community

dc.contributor.authorKalula, Sebastiana Zimba
dc.contributor.authorFerreira, Monica
dc.contributor.authorSwingler, George H
dc.contributor.authorBadri, Motasim
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-25T10:37:17Z
dc.date.available2016-05-25T10:37:17Z
dc.date.issued2016-02-24
dc.date.updated2016-05-19T09:12:19Z
dc.description.abstractBackground: Studies on falls in older adults have mainly been conducted in high income countries. Scant, if any, information exists on risk factors for falls in the older population of sub-Saharan African countries. Methods: A cross-sectional survey and a 12-month follow-up study were conducted to determine risk factors for falls in a representative multi-ethnic sample of 837 randomly selected ambulant community-dwelling subjects aged ≥65 years in three suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. Logistic regression models were fitted to determine the association between (1) falls and (2) recurrent falls occurring during follow-up and their potential socio-demographic, self-reported medical conditions and physical assessment predictors. Results: Prevalence rates of 26.4 % for falls and 11 % for recurrent falls at baseline and 21.9 % for falls and 6.3 % for recurrent falls during follow-up. In both prospective analyses of falls and recurrent falls, history of previous falls, dizziness/vertigo, ethnicity (white or mixed ancestry vs black African) were significant predictors. However, poor cognitive score was a significant predictor in the falls analysis, and marital status (unmarried vs married) and increased time to perform the timed Up and Go test in the recurrent fall analysis but not in both. Other than the timed Up and Go test in recurrent falls analysis, physical assessment test outcomes were not significant predictors of falls. Conclusion: Our study provides simple criteria based on demographic characteristics, medical and physical assessments to identify older persons at increased risk of falls. History taking remains an important part of medical practice in the determination of a risk of falls in older patients. Physical assessment using tools validated in developed country populations may not produce results needed to predict a risk of falls in a different setting.en_ZA
dc.identifier10.1186/s12877-016-0212-7
dc.identifier.apacitationKalula, S. Z., Ferreira, M., Swingler, G. H., & Badri, M. (2016). Risk factors for falls in older adults in a South African Urban Community. <i>BMC Geriatrics</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19845en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationKalula, Sebastiana Zimba, Monica Ferreira, George H Swingler, and Motasim Badri "Risk factors for falls in older adults in a South African Urban Community." <i>BMC Geriatrics</i> (2016) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19845en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationKalula, S. Z., Ferreira, M., Swingler, G. H., & Badri, M. (2016). Risk factors for falls in older adults in a South African Urban Community. BMC Geriatrics, 16(1), 51.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1471-2318en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Kalula, Sebastiana Zimba AU - Ferreira, Monica AU - Swingler, George H AU - Badri, Motasim AB - Background: Studies on falls in older adults have mainly been conducted in high income countries. Scant, if any, information exists on risk factors for falls in the older population of sub-Saharan African countries. Methods: A cross-sectional survey and a 12-month follow-up study were conducted to determine risk factors for falls in a representative multi-ethnic sample of 837 randomly selected ambulant community-dwelling subjects aged ≥65 years in three suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. Logistic regression models were fitted to determine the association between (1) falls and (2) recurrent falls occurring during follow-up and their potential socio-demographic, self-reported medical conditions and physical assessment predictors. Results: Prevalence rates of 26.4 % for falls and 11 % for recurrent falls at baseline and 21.9 % for falls and 6.3 % for recurrent falls during follow-up. In both prospective analyses of falls and recurrent falls, history of previous falls, dizziness/vertigo, ethnicity (white or mixed ancestry vs black African) were significant predictors. However, poor cognitive score was a significant predictor in the falls analysis, and marital status (unmarried vs married) and increased time to perform the timed Up and Go test in the recurrent fall analysis but not in both. Other than the timed Up and Go test in recurrent falls analysis, physical assessment test outcomes were not significant predictors of falls. Conclusion: Our study provides simple criteria based on demographic characteristics, medical and physical assessments to identify older persons at increased risk of falls. History taking remains an important part of medical practice in the determination of a risk of falls in older patients. Physical assessment using tools validated in developed country populations may not produce results needed to predict a risk of falls in a different setting. DA - 2016-02-24 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/s12877-016-0212-7 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC Geriatrics KW - Falls KW - Risk factors KW - Community dwelling KW - Older people KW - Low and middle income country LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 SM - 1471-2318 T1 - Risk factors for falls in older adults in a South African Urban Community TI - Risk factors for falls in older adults in a South African Urban Community UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19845 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-016-0212-7
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/19845
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationKalula SZ, Ferreira M, Swingler GH, Badri M. Risk factors for falls in older adults in a South African Urban Community. BMC Geriatrics. 2016; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19845.en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066en
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDivision of Geriatric Medicineen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)*
dc.rights.holderKalula et al.
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_ZA
dc.sourceBMC Geriatricsen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/
dc.subjectFalls
dc.subjectRisk factors
dc.subjectCommunity dwelling
dc.subjectOlder people
dc.subjectLow and middle income country
dc.titleRisk factors for falls in older adults in a South African Urban Communityen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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