Premium
Falls reported among elderly Norwegians living at home
Author(s) -
Bergland Astrid,
Pettersen Anne Marie,
Laake Knut
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
physiotherapy research international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.509
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1471-2865
pISSN - 1358-2267
DOI - 10.1002/pri.138
Subject(s) - falling (accident) , medicine , norwegian , injury prevention , demography , epidemiology , poison control , incidence (geometry) , occupational safety and health , suicide prevention , activities of daily living , hip fracture , cross sectional study , gerontology , physical therapy , osteoporosis , environmental health , linguistics , philosophy , physics , pathology , endocrinology , sociology , optics
Background and Purpose Norway has the highest reported incidence of hip fractures in western Europe. Little is known about the epidemiology of falls in Norway where the winter season is long and dark. The objective of this work was to study reported falls and their consequences among elderly Norwegians living at home. Methods A cross‐sectional design was used for the study. Interviews were performed in the homes of 431 subjects, aged 67–97 years, living at home. Information on falling was gathered through six questions: whether the subject had fallen during the last six months, and if so, how many falls they had, where the last fall occurred, its perceived reason, the activity the subject had been engaged in when the fall occurred, and the resulting injury. Results In all, 24.1% of subjects reported falling during the last six months, and 9.5% had suffered more than one fall. Falls were most frequently linked to external events (63.1%). Outdoor falls were more frequent (59.0%; 95% CI=51.2–82.0) than indoor falls. Older subjects were associated with more frequent indoor falls (p<0.05), but gender was not significant. Fifty‐one per cent of subjects had fallen while walking and 53% had suffered an injury from the last fall. In 13.4% of the women and 16.2% of the men, the last fall had resulted in a fracture. Conclusions Compared to the results of other studies from industrialized Western countries, a similar crude fall rate, similar frequency and similar type of injury were found. However, in contrast to other studies, no gender difference was observed with regard to falling, place of falling and fracture rate. Copyright © 1998 Whurr Publishers Ltd.