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Risk Factors Associated with Falls in the Elderly Rehabilitation Client
Author(s) -
Barr Jeanne,
Brown Peter,
Perry Greg
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.1999.tb00085.x
Subject(s) - rehabilitation , falling (accident) , medicine , logistic regression , amputation , stroke (engine) , physical therapy , confusion , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychology , psychiatry , mechanical engineering , psychoanalysis , engineering
Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine risk factors associated with falls in an elderly rehabilitation client group. Method: The study involved retrospective analysis of incident reports/medical files over four years of 87 clients who had fallen in the aged care rehabilitation unit under study. A comparison group was chosen of 87 randomly selected clients who did not fall during their rehabilitation program. Factors involved were analysed using a logistic regression equation to develop a model of those at risk of falling. Results: The factors that were associated with falls in the elderly include confusion, primary diagnosis of stroke, lower limb amputation and sleep disturbances. Conclusion: The elderly client who was confused, had a primary diagnosis of stroke, a recent lower limb amputation or experienced sleep disturbances was at increased risk of falling while undergoing in‐patient rehabilitation.