[Does the care for the fear of falling bring a profit to community living elderly people who had experienced falls?].

INTRODUCTION

fall is common in old people and has multiple consequences, physical but also psychological, with a fear of falling which results in reduction in the activities of everyday life, loss of autonomy and entry in dependence. The aim of the study was to evluate the benefit of taking into account the fear of falling in the care of old people who had experienced falls.

METHODOLOGY

old people who experienced falls and with a good cognitive status were followed in a day hospital during one year. Evaluation including a specific assessment of the responsibility of the psychological factor, the photolangage, was performed before and after multi-field rehabilitation. We used the rating scales ADL, IADL, SF-36, SAFE, and verbal and analogical scales of the fear of falling.

RESULTS

fifteen patients were included (mean age 85 years +/- 5,7). The majority were women living alone, with a good nutritional status, a moderated renal insufficiency, and a comorbidity involving polymedication. Scores on the ADL and IADL scales showed a consolidation of the patients' autonomy, with a slight but significant improvement of the IADL scores (p < 0,05). All scales assessing the fear of falling (visual analogical, verbal scales, SAFE) showed a statistically significant improvement (p<0,001). SF-36 scale, exploring the quality of life perceived by the patients, showed a great deterioration immediately after falling, and a statistically significant improvement on seven of the eight subscales after rehabilitation. The global physical score (GCV) was improved in a nonsignificant way, whereas the global psychic score (MCS) progressed in a statistically significant way (p < 0,001).

CONCLUSION

this pilot study shows that multi-field rehabilitation and adapted assumption of responsibility of fear of falling brings a benefit in term of quality of life and preservation of autonomy in old people living in the community who had experienced falls.