Risky Business: Factors That Increase Risk of Falls Among Older Adult In-Patients

Gracie Hodgson; Alex Pace; Quinten Carfagnini; Anteneh Ayanso; Pauli Gardner; Miya Narushima; Zeau Ismail; Brent E Faught

doi:10.1177/23337214231189930

Risky Business: Factors That Increase Risk of Falls Among Older Adult In-Patients

Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2023 Jul 30:9:23337214231189930. doi: 10.1177/23337214231189930. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Gracie Hodgson¹, Alex Pace¹, Quinten Carfagnini¹, Anteneh Ayanso¹, Pauli Gardner¹, Miya Narushima¹, Zeau Ismail², Brent E Faught¹

Affiliations

¹ Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.
² Niagara Health, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.

Abstract

In hospitals, older patients are at increased risk of falling multiple times. This study incorporated an epidemiologic cross-sectional design consisting of 4,348 older patients (≥65-year-old). Eight hundred eighty five (20.4%) in-patients experienced multiple falls while remaining participants had one fall incident. A patient fall event was recorded with age, sex, incident date, type of fall, and location. Logistic regression assessed risk factors found in patients with multiple falls compared to those with one fall. Significant differences were observed in the proportion of multiple falls: in a bed with no rails, standing, walking, and using a wheel/Geri chair (p < .05). Overall, sex, type of fall, and location were significant in predicting multiple falls (p < .05). Male patients were at 16.1% greater risk of multiple falls, when compared to females (p < .05). A fall in complex care, mental health, or respirology were more likely to experience multiple falls (OR = 2.659, 3.620, 1.593 respectively), while season had no impact.

Keywords: hospital setting; reoccurring falls; single and multiple falls; type of fall.