INCIDENCE RATES OF FALLS AMONG JAPANESE MEN AND WOMEN LIVING IN HAWAII

Japanese people in both Japan and in Hawaii have a lower incidence of hip fractures than white people in Hawaii or on the mainland of the Un ited States. Hip fractures usually occur after a fall, and differing i ncidence rates of falls might contribute to the observed differences i n hip fracture rates. To investigate this possibility, we undertook a prospective study of falls among elderly Japanese men and women living in Hawaii using intensive surveillance methods similar to those used in studies of predominantly white populations. For our Japanese partic ipants, the incidence rates of total falls were 139 per 1000 person-ye ars for men and 276 per 1000 person-years for women. Age-adjusted rate ratios of falls for predominately white populations compared with our Japanese participants ranged from 1.8 to 2.3 for women and from 2.6 t o 4.7 for men. The risk of injuries when they did fall, however, was n ot lower for our Japanese participants than reported for white partici pants. For our Japanese population, past falls, female gender, and day time hours were associated with an increased incidence of falls. (C) 1 997 Elsevier Science Inc.