Publication:

Contributory factors leading to fall among elderly staying in rural area

Background Falls are one of the major problems in the elderly and are considered to be one of the “geriatric giants”, result from a complex interplay of predisposing and precipitating factors in a person’s environment.

Methods The study was undertaken in the rural field practice areas of Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar. A pretested semi-structured interview schedule was administered to 500 elderly each from the each area.

Results The elderly, who had fall in last one year (25.4%), reported varied intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. On multivariate analysis, among intrinsic factors, tremors, vertigo, decline in visual acuity, blurred vision, myocardial infarction, arthritis, muscle weakness, sedative hypnotic, major tranquilisers, antihypertensive, cardiac medications and NSAIDs were significantly contribution to fall. While extrinsic factors like improper design of furniture, presence of rapid closing doors, high located shelves, lack of step ladder, absence of grab bars in bathroom and around toilet, low seated toilet seat, slippery floor of the bathroom, inadequate light from bedside to bathroom, improper height of bed and presence of outdated medication were leading to fall among rural elderly.

Conclusions Factors contributing to fall are modifiable and treatable, hence early screening and remedial measures are required to prevent the fall among elderly.