TY - JOUR
T1 - Association between chronic diseases and falls among a sample of older people in Finland
AU - Immonen, Milla
AU - Haapea, Marianne
AU - Similä, Heidi
AU - Enwald, Heidi
AU - Keränen, Niina
AU - Kangas, Maarit
AU - Korpelainen, Raija
AU - Jämsä, Timo
N1 - Funding Information:
The GASEL project was supported by Business Finland (during the project known as Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation) and University of Oulu. Additionally, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. supported writing the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/6/26
Y1 - 2020/6/26
N2 - Background: Falls are a major problem for older people and recurrent fallers are especially prone to severe consequences due to falls. This study investigated the association between chronic conditions and falls. Methods: Responses from 872 older persons (age 65–98) to a health questionnaire were used in the analyses. Characteristics and disease prevalence between recurrent fallers, one-time fallers and non-fallers were compared. A hierarchical clustering method was applied to find combinations of chronic conditions that were associated with recent recurrent falling. Results: The results showed that recurrent fallers had a higher number of diseases (median 4, interquartile range, IQR = 2.0–5.0) compared to non-fallers (median 2, IQR = 1.0–3.0). Eight clusters were formed based on the data. The participants in the low chronic disease cluster were younger, more physically active, not frail, and had fewer geriatric conditions. Multiple chronic disease cluster participants were older, less physically active, overweight (body mass index, BMI > 30), at risk of malnutrition, and had more geriatric conditions. Significantly increased risk of recurrent falls relative to the low chronic cluster was found for respondents in the osteoporosis cluster and multiple chronic disease cluster (OR = 5.65, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.23–25.85, p = 0.026, and OR = 13.42, 95% CI: 2.47–72.96, p = 0.002, respectively). None of the clusters were associated with increased risk of one-time falling. Conclusions: The results implicate that the number of chronic diseases is related with risk of recurrent falling. Furthermore, the results implicate the potential of identifying certain combinations of chronic diseases that increase fall risk by analyzing health record data, although further studies are needed with a larger population sample.
AB - Background: Falls are a major problem for older people and recurrent fallers are especially prone to severe consequences due to falls. This study investigated the association between chronic conditions and falls. Methods: Responses from 872 older persons (age 65–98) to a health questionnaire were used in the analyses. Characteristics and disease prevalence between recurrent fallers, one-time fallers and non-fallers were compared. A hierarchical clustering method was applied to find combinations of chronic conditions that were associated with recent recurrent falling. Results: The results showed that recurrent fallers had a higher number of diseases (median 4, interquartile range, IQR = 2.0–5.0) compared to non-fallers (median 2, IQR = 1.0–3.0). Eight clusters were formed based on the data. The participants in the low chronic disease cluster were younger, more physically active, not frail, and had fewer geriatric conditions. Multiple chronic disease cluster participants were older, less physically active, overweight (body mass index, BMI > 30), at risk of malnutrition, and had more geriatric conditions. Significantly increased risk of recurrent falls relative to the low chronic cluster was found for respondents in the osteoporosis cluster and multiple chronic disease cluster (OR = 5.65, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.23–25.85, p = 0.026, and OR = 13.42, 95% CI: 2.47–72.96, p = 0.002, respectively). None of the clusters were associated with increased risk of one-time falling. Conclusions: The results implicate that the number of chronic diseases is related with risk of recurrent falling. Furthermore, the results implicate the potential of identifying certain combinations of chronic diseases that increase fall risk by analyzing health record data, although further studies are needed with a larger population sample.
KW - Falls
KW - recurrent falls
KW - fall risk
KW - chronic diseases
KW - older adults
KW - geriatrics
KW - gerontology
KW - aging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087320972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12877-020-01621-9
DO - 10.1186/s12877-020-01621-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 32590946
SN - 1471-2318
VL - 20
SP - 225
JO - BMC Geriatrics
JF - BMC Geriatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 225
ER -