Epidemiology and Relationship of Fall and Fear of Falling in the Elderly Residing at Kamrani Nursing Home, Tehran, Iran

• Main Authors: Tahereh Najafi Ghezlcheh, Sara Ariapour, Mahdi Jafari Oori
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences 2016-01-01
• Series: Sālmand
• Subjects: Falls; Fear of falling; Elderly
• Online Access: http://salmandj.uswr.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1114-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1

Objectives: Fear of falling may restrict activities that can increase risk of falling. The aim of this study was&nbsp;to investigate the incidence of falls and fear of falling and their relationship. Methods & Materials: This descriptive cross-sectional, and analytical study was performed on 160 institutionalized&nbsp;old people (130 females, 30 males) aged 65 and older that all of them were enrolled by sampling.&nbsp;After receiving their informed consents, data were collected by demographic form, fall frequency&nbsp;form and falls efficacy scale (FSE) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used for data classification and&nbsp;inferential statistics including 1-way ANOVA, Independent t test, and the Pearson correlation were used&nbsp;for data analysis. Validity and reliability of FSE questionnaire was confirmed after its analysis (The Cronbach&nbsp;&alpha;=95%). Results: Among 160 subjects, the majority of the elderly were women (81.2%), the mean (SD) of participants&rsquo;&nbsp;age was 67.63(9.07) years. The mean (SD) of falls was 2.6(0.85). About 46.9% of the elderly have&nbsp;fallen 3 times, 33.8% of them have fallen 2 times and 9.4% have fallen 1 time in the past 6 months, while&nbsp;the majority of the elderly (76.2%) had moderate fear of falling. There was significant difference between&nbsp;factors of sex and using drugs with the number of falls (P<0.001). Significant difference was seen&nbsp;between fear of falling and sex (P<0.05) and residence time (P=0.02). The Pearson correlation showed a significant relationship between the number of falls and fear of falling with confidence level of 99%(P<0.001). Conclusion: Because of the high prevalence of falls and fear of falling in the elderly and their direct relationship&nbsp;with each other, necessary measures should be taken for prevention and controlling them to&nbsp;improve the welfare of the elderly people.