OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of falls and associated factors were determined in a large cohort of community-dwelling older adults.
METHODS: The sample included adults at least 65 years old who resided in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A total of 742 individuals were investigated by inverse random sampling and were stratified by gender and age. The prevalence of falls was calculated by the history of falls in the last year. Data on clinical, psychosocial, sociodemographic and functional characteristics were also gathered. After bivariate analysis, statistically relevant variables were included in groups in 4 models for multivariate analyses.
RESULTS: The prevalence of falls was 29%. The mean age was 76.7; 70.2% were female; 43.4% were married; 80.3% had ≥ 5 years of education;48.3% had an income, of which ≥ 5.1 were minimum wage. All of the variables were associated with falls, except fair self-rated "health. In contrast, when all these variables were adjusted (model 2), almost all lost the statistical significance, except for functional dependency-IADL (OR = 1.51; 95%CI 1.02-2.21) and poor/very poor self-rated health (OR = 2.36; 95%CI 1.06-5.25). For psychosocial variables in model 1, only fear of falling and activity level were significantly associated with falls. However, when these variables were adjusted (model 3), only fear of falling remained significant. In the final model, functional dependency (OR = 1.48; 95%CI 1.01-2.17), poor/very poor self-rated health (OR = 2.33; 95%CI 1.05-5.21) and fear of falling (OR = 2.14; 95%CI = 1.47-3.12) were associated with falls.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of falls is high among community-dwelling older adults. Associations with socio-demographic and biological factors have been identified and confirmed in the literature. Social activities were considered a protective factor.
