The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of fear of falling (FOF) among patients over age 60 with dizziness, falls, or syncope; and to analyze risk factors associated with FOF, including data from the tilt table test. This study included 200 older patients referred to a geriatric outpatient clinic specializing in dizziness, falls, and syncope. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients who experienced FOF (yes vs. no) and whether FOF restricted leaving home alone or performing activities of daily living. FOF occurred in 50 per cent of patients in this population. Among these, 44 per cent gave up going out alone and 10 per cent stopped doing basic activities of daily living. Beyond age 75, FOF was associated with recurrent dizziness, depression, and symptoms on standing, but not prior falls.

The improvement in health and social care over the preceding century is reaping its reward in longer and healthier lives, making the over-80s the fastest growing population group. Most elderly individuals are living independent lives, but as their number grows and chronic disease sets in, so does the need for experts in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of illness in older patients… geriatricians!

Those interested in a tranquil existence, stop reading now.

No abstract

The last few decades have seen a dramatic reduction in the number of hospital beds, despite the UK being an ageing society and the elderly being major users of hospital resources. The National Beds Inquiry (Department of Health, 2000a) and the British Geriatrics Society’s (2001) bed-blocking surveys confirmed the lack of sufficient community alternatives to hospital care, inappropriate use of hospital beds, and delays in hospital discharges as key factors for the high numbers of people who stay in an acute hospital longer than is desirable. At the same time the expectations of patients and their families have risen, and it is therefore easy to understand how many medical departments struggle to cope with large numbers of sick older people.