Prevalence and Factors Associated with Fear of Falling in the Elderly Attending a Tertiary Hospital in South-South Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

Fear of falling is a loss of confidence in balance which affects the quality of life of the elderly. Falls in older people can result in disability, death, financial stress on the family, and higher medical expenses. A significant proportion of those who fall are said to be afraid of falling. This study determined the prevalence and the factors associated with the fear of falling in the elderly attending the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study of patients, 60 years and older, attending the Family Medicine clinic in the hospital. A questionnaire was used to collect data on the socio-demographic characteristics, history of chronic illness and lifestyle of the respondents. It also included the Modified Fall Efficacy scale to assess the fear of falling in the respondents and the functional assessment of the respondents was also carried out using the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG). Descriptive analysis and logistic regression were done to determine the factors associated with the fear of falling in the elderly.

RESULTS

A total of 292 patients consented to participate, Fear of falling was prevalent in 58 (19.9%) of the participants. The female gender was found to have 50% lower odds of having a fear of falling than their male counterparts (O.R.=0.541, 95% C. I=0.327-0.896) An association was found between reduced frequency of physical activity and fear of falling. (χ2=10.25 P-value=0.006) An association was found between fear of falling and TUG as those with a fear of falling took a longer time to complete the TUG test.

CONCLUSION

The study suggests that healthcare professionals should routinely investigate the fear of falling in geriatric care to devise preventive and intervention strategies to combat the fear of falling among the elderly.