Departamento de Desporto e Saúde, Escola de Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Évora, Largo dos Colegiais 2, Évora, Portugal.
Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Nov 10;21(Suppl 2):861. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10807-8.
Falls and violence against older people might represent a joint public health problem, as both may result in injury, fear, social isolation, sedentary behavior and dependence or even death. The ESACA project "Aging safely in Alentejo - Understanding for action" was designed to promote the healthy aging of older people in Alentejo by preventing the occurrence of falls and violence. This study aimed to report the ESACA protocol and the preliminary outcomes.
The ESACA study has a twofold design as a cross-sectional study that included retrospective and prospective surveys. The participants were 508 community-dwelling older people. Assessments included falls, the risk of violence against older people, sociodemographic characteristics, health-related measurements, fear of falling, anthropometric measures and body composition, functional physical fitness, physical activity, and environmental hazards.
Among the participants, 43% were fallers, 21% were recurrent fallers, and 22% were victims of one or more kinds of violence (psychological: 17.1%, physical: 5.6%, and patrimonial: 3.0%). Moreover, the cumulative results suggested high risk on several risk factors for falling (7 factors: 0.6% to 2 factors: 17.4%) and of violence (26.7%).
In the ESACA project, a wide range of potential influencing factors on falls and violence risk factors were measured, and comprehensive quality control measures were applied. Overall, the results suggest that for falls and violence prevention strategies to be effective, it is essential to evaluate, diagnose, and inform all stakeholders in a directed and useful way. Moreover, we believe that our project outcomes may help change mindsets and behaviors by involving people in active aging and well-being programs that promote exercise and avoid isolation.
老年人跌倒和暴力可能代表一个共同的公共卫生问题，因为两者都可能导致受伤、恐惧、社会隔离、久坐行为和依赖，甚至死亡。ESACA 项目“阿连特茹安全老龄化——理解行动”旨在通过预防跌倒和暴力的发生，促进阿连特茹老年人的健康老龄化。本研究旨在报告 ESACA 方案和初步结果。
ESACA 研究采用横断面研究设计，包括回顾性和前瞻性调查。参与者为 508 名居住在社区的老年人。评估包括跌倒、老年人暴力风险、社会人口统计学特征、健康相关测量、跌倒恐惧、人体测量和身体成分、身体功能适应性、身体活动和环境危害。
在参与者中，43%是跌倒者，21%是复发性跌倒者，22%是一种或多种暴力的受害者（心理：17.1%，身体：5.6%，财产：3.0%）。此外，累积结果表明，跌倒（7 个因素：0.6%至 2 个因素：17.4%）和暴力（26.7%）的多个危险因素具有较高的风险。
在 ESACA 项目中，测量了广泛的潜在影响跌倒和暴力风险因素，并应用了全面的质量控制措施。总体而言，结果表明，为了使跌倒和暴力预防策略有效，必须以有针对性和有用的方式评估、诊断和告知所有利益相关者。此外，我们认为我们的项目结果可以通过让人们参与促进锻炼和避免孤立的积极老龄化和健康计划来帮助改变思维和行为。
