Jabeen Seema, Sahu Sasmita, Kulshreshtha Priyamvada, Pramanik Saurabh, Singh Vartika, Upadhyay Meenakshi, Kak Vasudha
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Saraswati Dental College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Awadh Dental College and Hospital, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India.
J Educ Health Promot. 2025 Jul 4;14:272. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_1643_24. eCollection 2025.
The disorders affecting one's gait and physical balance along with medications usage affects cognitive abilities along with physical functions that have association with greater risk of fall or sustenance of any injury arising from fall among elders. In addition to this, consumption of alcohol contributes towards risk of fall since it influences gait and impairs balance and cognition. Also, physiological changes occurring with advancement of age (for example, reduction in hepatic function as well as decrease in total bodily water content) makes elder adults susceptible to adverse incidents such as fall. The present study aimed to assess the risk factors that are associated with dental trauma and prevention of falls in elderly patients reporting to oral healthcare centers.
This questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient Department of Dental College and Hospital. Kihon questionnaire comprised of twenty five items to assess the elderly patients using parameters like (i) Day to day activities; (ii) Physical functions; (iii) Nutrition intake; (iv) Oral functions, (v) Cognition, (vi) mood changes, and (vii) isolation. The study respondents replying to "yes" to minimum of 7 out of 25 items were selected in final assessment. Normal data distribution of variables was determined by Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical tool. Comparison of studied age-groups was performed by "Chi-square test" for categorical variables.
Factors which were linked with falls demonstrated statistically significant difference ( = 0.02) between the ages of both genders as well as was noted between genders ( = 0.05). No statistically significant difference ( = 0.07) was observed between body mass indices of fall patients belonging to either gender. However, on comparing elders who suffered falls with those who did not, it was found that no statistical significant differences were observed on comparison between age ( = 0.06), gender ( = 0.08), and body mass index ( = 0.07). Although, statistical significance ( = 0.05) was observed between groups who exercised. Similarly, statistically significant differences were observed on comparing awareness of fraility ( = 0.04), numbers of applicable questionnaire items ( = 0.04), physical frailness ( = 0.02), and oral frailness ( = 0.01).
It can be concluded from the study that advanced age and gender were found to have significant effect over fall when assessed in patients who had suffered fall.
影响一个人步态和身体平衡的疾病以及药物使用会影响认知能力和身体功能，而这些与老年人跌倒风险增加或跌倒所致任何损伤的持续存在相关。除此之外，饮酒会增加跌倒风险，因为它会影响步态、损害平衡和认知。此外，随着年龄增长发生的生理变化（例如肝功能下降以及身体总含水量减少）使老年人易发生跌倒等不良事件。本研究旨在评估到口腔保健中心就诊的老年患者中与牙外伤和跌倒预防相关的危险因素。
这项基于问卷的横断面研究在牙科学院和医院的门诊部进行。Kihon问卷由25个项目组成，用于使用以下参数评估老年患者：（i）日常活动；（ii）身体功能；（iii）营养摄入；（iv）口腔功能；（v）认知；（vi）情绪变化；（vii）社交隔离。在最终评估中，选择对25个项目中至少7个回答“是”的研究对象。变量的正态数据分布通过Kolmogorov-Smirnov统计工具确定。对分类变量，通过“卡方检验”对研究的年龄组进行比较。
与跌倒相关的因素在男女年龄之间显示出统计学显著差异（P = 0.02），在性别之间也有差异（P = 0.05）。在属于任何性别的跌倒患者的体重指数之间未观察到统计学显著差异（P = 0.07）。然而，将跌倒的老年人与未跌倒的老年人进行比较时，发现年龄（P = 0.06）、性别（P = 0.08）和体重指数（P = 0.07）之间的比较未观察到统计学显著差异。尽管如此，在运动的组之间观察到统计学显著性（P = 0.05）。同样，在比较衰弱意识（P = 0.04）、适用问卷项目数（P = 0.04）、身体衰弱（P = 0.02）和口腔衰弱（P = 0.01）时观察到统计学显著差异。
从该研究可以得出结论，在跌倒患者中评估时，高龄和性别对跌倒有显著影响。
