PREVALENCE AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED TO FALL S AMONG NONINSTITUTIONALIZED ELDERLY PEOPLE

BACKGROUND: To describe falls in urban community elderly people and to identify factors associated with their occurrence. MATERIAL AND METHO DS: Data from an age and sex stratified sample of the elderly people l iving in Leganes (n = 1183). Potentially associated factors are explor ed in bivariate analyses and a multivariate logistic regression analys is. The variables are entered into the equations in the causal order h ypothesized. RESULTS: 14% of the elderly persons in Leganes reported a t least a fall in the previous twelve months, 41% of them had conseque nces, 19% ended in hospitalization. In the bivariate analyses signific ant positive associations were found with being older than 65, female, widowhood, having more than six chronic conditions, functional limita tions in lower extremities, disability, urinary incontinence and sleep problems. In the multivariate model independent associations were obs erved for females, functional limitations of the lower extremities, co gnitive deficit, visual impairment, urinary incontinence and sleep pro blems. CONCLUSION: The frequency of falls in the elderly population in Leganes, Madrid, is approximately half of that reported in internatio nal studies using similar methodology. However, associations with know n risk factors are confirmed in our population. The association betwee n falls and difficulties in falling asleep found in this study should be confirmed by others.