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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The value of assessing falls in an elderly population
— a randomized clinical trial | | Author(s) | Laurence Z Rubenstein, Alan S Robbins, Karen R Josephson |
| Journal title | Annals of Internal Medicine, vol 113, no 4, August 1990 |
| Pages | pp 308-315 |
| Keywords | Falls ; At risk ; Evaluation ; Clinical surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Is post-fall assessment, coupled with referrals for specific treatment and preventive interventions, a beneficial strategy to use with frail, institutionalised older people who have fallen? In this US clinical trial, 160 ambulatory subjects (mean age 87) in long-term residential care, were randomly assigned to receive either a comprehensive post-fall assessment (intervention group, n=79) or usual care (control group, n=81). The post-fall assessment included: a detailed physical examination and environmental assessment by a nurse practitioner; laboratory tests; electrocardiogram; and 24-hour Holter monitoring. Probable cause or causes for the fall, identified risk factors, and therapeutic recommendations were given to the patient's primary physician. Through use of assessment, many remediable problems (e.g. weakness, environmental hazards, orthostatic hypotension, drug side effects, gait dysfunction) were detected. At the end of a 2-year follow-up, the intervention group had 26% fewer hospitalisations, 52% reduction in hospital days, 9% fewer falls, and 17% fewer deaths than controls. However, these trends were not statistically significant. Post-fall assessment can lead to reductions in disability and costs. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980106211 A |
| Classmark | OLF: CA3: 4C: 3G: 7T * |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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