Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
Ann Acad Med Singap. 2013 Jul;42(7):320-7.
Falls are common among older people. Previous studies have shown that falls were multifactorial. However, data regarding community-dwelling Chinese population are minimal. We aimed to study factors associated with falls among community-dwelling older Chinese people.
We conducted a cross-sectional study in a community hospital in Taiwan in 2010. Our sample included 671 elders from the 3680 examinees of the free annual Senior Citizens Health Examination. Participants were interviewed with a detailed questionnaire, and 317 elders were further invited for serum vitamin D tests. The main outcome was falls in the previous 12 months. Predictor variables included sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle risk factors, body stature, frailty, serum 25 (OH) D levels, and medications.
The mean age of the 671 participants was 75.7 ± 6.4 years old, and 48.7% of which were female. Fallers comprised 21.0% of the study population. In multivariate models, female gender (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 2.32), loss of height in adulthood (aOR: 1.52), low body weight (aOR: 2.69), central obesity (aOR: 1.67), frailty (aOR: 1.56), polypharmacy (aOR: 2.18) and hyperglycaemia (aOR: 1.56) were factors associated with falls. Vitamin D insufficiency (serum 25 (OH) D levels <30 ng/mL) was not associated with falls (OR: 0.78; 95% CI, 0.38 to 1.60) (n = 317) in this study.
Among community-dwelling older people in Taiwan, falls were mainly associated with female gender, polypharmacy, frailty, reduced body height, low body weight or central obesity, and hyperglycaemia. In addition to other risk factors, body stature should be considered as a novel risk factor when screening elders at risk for falls.
跌倒在老年人中很常见。先前的研究表明，跌倒有多种因素。然而，针对社区居住的中国人群的数据很少。我们旨在研究与社区居住的中国老年人跌倒相关的因素。
我们于 2010 年在台湾的一家社区医院进行了一项横断面研究。我们的样本包括来自免费年度老年人健康检查的 3680 名受检者中的 671 名老年人。参与者接受了详细的问卷调查，其中 317 名老年人进一步接受了血清维生素 D 测试。主要结局是过去 12 个月内的跌倒。预测变量包括社会人口统计学特征、生活方式危险因素、身体状况、衰弱、血清 25（OH）D 水平和药物治疗。
671 名参与者的平均年龄为 75.7 ± 6.4 岁，其中 48.7%为女性。研究人群中有 21.0%的人跌倒。在多变量模型中，女性（调整后的优势比（aOR）：2.32）、成年后身高下降（aOR：1.52）、低体重（aOR：2.69）、中心性肥胖（aOR：1.67）、衰弱（aOR：1.56）、多种药物治疗（aOR：2.18）和高血糖（aOR：1.56）是与跌倒相关的因素。在这项研究中，维生素 D 不足（血清 25（OH）D 水平 <30ng/mL）与跌倒无关（OR：0.78；95%CI，0.38 至 1.60）（n=317）。
在台湾的社区居住的老年人中，跌倒主要与女性、多种药物治疗、衰弱、身高降低、低体重或中心性肥胖以及高血糖相关。除了其他危险因素外，在筛查有跌倒风险的老年人时，身体状况应被视为新的危险因素。
