ObjectivesThere is limited knowledge regarding epidemiology and risk of falls among the elderly living in low-income and middle-income countries. In this situation, the current study aims to report the incidence of falls and associated risk factors among free living elderly population from Kerala, India.DesignProspective cohort study with stratified random cluster sampling.SettingThe study location was Ernakulam, Kerala, India, and we collected information via house visits using a questionnaire. During the research, the subjects were followed up prospectively for 1 year by phone at intervals of 3 months and missing subjects were contacted by house visits.ParticipantsCommunity-dwelling elderly above 65 years of age.ResultsWe recruited a total of 1000 participants out of which a total of 201 (20.1%) subjects reported a fall during the follow-up. The incidence rate of falls was 31 (95% CI 27.7 to 34.6) per 100 person-years. Female sex (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.10, p=0.027), movement disorders including Parkinsonism (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.00 to 5.05, p=0.048), arthritis (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.09, p=0.026), dependence in basic activities of daily living (OR, 3.49, 95% CI 2.00 to 6.09, p<0.001), not using antihypertensive medications (OR, 1.53, 95% CI 1.10 to 2.13, p=0.012), living alone during daytime (OR 3.27, 95% CI 1.59 to 6.71, p=0.001) and a history of falls in the previous year (OR, 2.25, 95% CI 1.60 to 3.15, p<0.001) predicted a fall in the following year.ConclusionsOne in five community-dwelling senior citizen fall annually and one in four who fall are prone to fall again in the following year. Interventions targeting falls among the elderly need to focus on modifiable risk factors such as living alone during daytime, movement disorders, arthritis and dependence on basic activities of daily living.

Background:Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world with a 30-fold increase in incidence in the last 50 years. Approximately, 50 million dengue infections occur annually.Aim:To study the various clinical and laboratory manifestations of dengue in the elderly and observe for any variations in IgM titer elevation with progression of age.Design:Retrospective observational study.Subjects and Methods:Medical charts of all patients admitted to the Division of Geriatrics of the institute during study period were reviewed for collection of demographic, clinical, and laboratory information. The diagnosis of dengue was made based on positive dengue IgM ELISA. An elderly patient referred to one whose age was ≥60 years.Results:Fever and myalgia were noted to be the most common clinical manifestation with only four patients presenting with overt bleeding manifestations. Only one patient presented in delirium and there was no case fatality. Thrombocytopenia was the single most common hematological abnormality noted. Hyponatremia was found to be prevalent in a majority of the patients and were symptomatic in more than half of them. There have been very few studies done worldwide on the varied clinical manifestations of dengue in the elderly.

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Background: Dementia is the global deterioration of the individual’s intellectual, emotional and cognitive faculties in a state of normal consciousness. Dementia impacts personal, family and societal life. It reduces life span, induces caregiver’s strain at family level and over utilizes health care facility. This study was aimed at describing the risk factors attributing to dementing disorders for developing preventive measures to slow down the incidence of dementia. Methods: The study was conducted in geriatrics OPD of a tertiary hospital in South India. A total of 50 dementia patients and 50 controls aged more than 65 years were selected for the study in a period of 6 months. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Results: 40% in the age group of 65-74 years, 61% in the age group of 75-84 years and 63.6% in the age >85 years had dementia. 43.5% of males and 55.5% of females had dementia. Multivariate analysis was done to find out the independent predictors of dementia. Among the morbidities dyslipidemia 3.93 (1.12-13.87) and COPD/bronchial asthma 4.57 (1.02-20.55), less than 5 days of fruit consumption 14.98 (38-59), hearing loss 4.67 (1.15-18.91) were found to be independent risk factors for dementia. Living alone was found to be a protective factor 0.029 (0.003-0.29). Conclusions: Our study reported various risk factors of dementia that were in agreement with findings from other studies conducted in India. Avoidable risk factors such as living alone, fruit intake and control of comorbidities such as hypertension, dyslipidemia and COPD/bronchial asthma needs more attention in old age group.