Preventing falls in the aged: a challenge in patient safety
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56294/saludcyt20241000Keywords:
Aged, Accidental Falls, Education, Exercise, Patient SafetyAbstract
Falls and fall-related injuries are considered an important public health problem, with implications for the health and well-being of older people and society in general. This article seeks to reflect on this issue, in order to understand the magnitude of the problem, associated factors and main preventive interventions. Assessment and intervention must be multifactorial and directed at clinical and environmental factors. Education and promotion of physical activity and exercise emerge as the most effective interventions in reducing the risk of falls in older people. From this reflection emerge the bases for the practice and formulation of health policies in the area of patient safety, in order to minimize the risks of falls and their occurrence in aged people, in hospital environments and community contexts
References
1- Grinin L, Grinin A, Korotayev A. Global Aging: An Integral Problem of the Future. How to Turn a Problem into a Development Driver?. In Sadovnichy V., Akaev A., Ilyin I., Malkov S, Grinin L, Korotayev A. (eds) Reconsidering the Limits to Growth: A Report to the Russian Association of the Club of Rome 2023 Sep 26 (pp. 117-135). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34999-7_7
2- World Health Organization. Aging and health. World Health Organization; 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/aging-and-health
3- Menassa M, Stronks K, Khatami F, Díaz ZM, Espinola OP, Gamba M, Itodo OA, Buttia C, Wehrli F, Minder B, Velarde MR. Concepts and definitions of healthy ageing: a systematic review and synthesis of theoretical models. EClinicalMedicine. 2023 Feb 1;56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.10182
4- Srivastava S, Muhammad T. Prevalence and risk factors of fall-related injury among older adults in India: evidence from a cross-sectional observational study. BMC public health. 2022 Mar 19;22(1):550. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12975-7
5- Salari N, Darvishi N, Ahmadipanah M, Shohaimi S, Mohammadi M. Global prevalence of falls in the older adults: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis. J Orthop Surg Res. 2022 Jun 28;17(1): 334. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13018-022-03222-1
6- Haagsma JA, Olij BF, Majdan M, van Beeck EF, Vos T, Castle CD, Dingels ZV, Fox JT, Hamilton EB, Liu Z, Roberts NL. Falls in older aged adults in 22 European countries: incidence, mortality and burden of disease from 1990 to 2017. Inj Prev. 2020 Oct;26(Suppl 1):i67. https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043347
7- James SL, Lucchesi LR, Bisignano C, Castle CD, Dingels ZV, Fox JT, Hamilton EB, Henry NJ, Krohn KJ, Liu Z, McCracken D. The global burden of falls: global, regional and national estimates of morbidity and mortality from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Inj Prev. 2020 Oct 1;26(Suppl 2):i3-11. https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043286
8- Sampaio F, Nogueira P, Ascenção R, Henriques A, Costa A. The epidemiology of falls in Portugal: An analysis of hospital admission data. PLoS one. 2021 Dec 22;16(12): e0261456. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261456
9- Xu Q, Ou X, Li J. The risk of falls among the aging population: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Public Health. 2022 Oct 17;10:902599. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.902599
10- Januário BD, Mafra NS, de Souza Silva H, Carvalho IM, Sena AL, Pereira AP, de Faria Júnior NS, Campos HO. Worldwide Prevalence of Polypharmacy: A Systematic Review. Curr. Drug Metab. 2023 Aug 1;24(8):568-86. https://doi.org/10.2174/1389200224666230727093010
11- Li Y, Hou L, Zhao H, Xie R, Yi Y, Ding X. Risk factors for falls among community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Med. 2023 Jan 6;9:1019094. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.1019094
12- Vo MT, Thonglor R, Moncatar TJ, Han TD, Tejativaddhana P, Nakamura K. Fear of falling and associated factors among older adults in Southeast Asia: a systematic review. Public health. 2023 Sep 1;222:215-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2022.08.012
13- Garcia I, Pimentel R, Aroni P, Dias A, Silva L, Haddad M. Notification of incidents related to patient safety in a sentinel university hospital. Cienc Cuid Saude. 2022. 2:e56674. https://doi.org/10.4025/ciencuidsaude.v21i0.56674
14- Strini V, Schiavolin R, Prendin A. Fall risk assessment scales: A systematic literature review. Nurs Rep. 2021 Jun 2;11(2):430-43. https://doi.org/10.3390/nursrep11020041
15- Costa-Dias M, Martins T, Araújo F. Study of the cut-off point of the Morse Fall Scale (MFS). Rev Enferm Ref. 2014 Mar 15;4(1):63-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.12707/RIII13101
16- Caldevilla MN, Costa MA, Teles P, Ferreira PM. Evaluation and cross‐cultural adaptation of the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model to Portuguese. Scand. J. Caring Sci. 2013 Jun;27(2):468-74. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6712.2012.01031.x
17- Branco PS. Validação da versão portuguesa da “activities-specific balance confidence scale “validation of the portuguese version of the” activities-specific balance confidence scale.”. Rev. Soc. Port. Med. Física Reabil. 2010;19:20-5.
18- Marques-Vieira CM, Sousa LM, Sousa LM, Berenguer SM. Validation of the Falls Efficacy Scale–International in a sample of Portuguese elderly. Rev Bras Enferm. 2018;71:747-54. https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2017-0497
19- Marques-Vieira CM, Sousa LM, Baixinho CR, Reis MG, Pérez-Rivas FJ, Sousa LM. Validation of the international 7-item falls efficacy scale in portuguese community-dwelling older adults. Texto Contexto Enferm. 2021 Apr 9;30:e20190243. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-265X-TCE-2019-0243
20- Rosa AM, Freitas AS, Lopes CA, Gonçalves SC, Redondo AC, Sousa LM. Propriedades métricas do Timed Up and Go Test no idoso: revisão integrativa da literatura. Rev Inv Enferm. 2017; série II(20): 21-31.
21- Morris ME, Webster K, Jones C, Hill AM, Haines T, McPhail S, Kiegaldie D, Slade S, Jazayeri D, Heng H, Shorr R. Interventions to reduce falls in hospitals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Age Ageing. 2022 May;51(5):afac077. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afac077
22- Ganz DA, Latham NK. Prevention of falls in community-dwelling older adults. N Engl J Med. 2020 Feb 20;382(8):734-43. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMcp1903252
23- Hopewell S, Copsey B, Nicolson P, Adedire B, Boniface G, Lamb S. Multifactorial interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 41 trials and almost 20 000 participants. Br. J. Sports Med.. 2020 Nov 1;54(22):1340-50. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-100732
24- Dautzenberg L, Beglinger S, Tsokani S, Zevgiti S, Raijmann RC, Rodondi N, Scholten RJ, Rutjes AW, Di Nisio M, Emmelot‐Vonk M, Tricco AC. Interventions for preventing falls and fall‐related fractures in community‐dwelling older adults: a systematic review and network meta‐analysis. . J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021 Oct;69(10):2973-84. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17375
25- Beuscart JB, Pelayo S, Robert L, Thevelin S, Marien S, Dalleur O. Medication review and reconciliation in older adults. Eur Geriatr Med. 2021 Jun;12:499-507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-021-00449-9
26- Yoshikawa A, Ramirez G, Smith ML, Lee S, Ory MG. Systematic review and meta-analysis of fear of falling and fall-related efficacy in a widely disseminated community-based fall prevention program. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2020 Nov 1;91:104235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2020.104235
27- World Health Organization. WHO's work on the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). World Health Organization; 2020. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/decade-of-healthy-ageing/decade-proposal-final-apr2020-en.pdf
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Luís Sousa, João Tomás, Sandy Severino, Susana Valido, Maria João Santos, Helena José (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Unless otherwise stated, associated published material is distributed under the same licence.
