Frequencies and Circumstances of Falls in the National Institute for Longevity Sciences, Longitudinal Study of Aging (NILS-LSA)

Abstract

Frequencies and circumstances of falls were assessed among 1030 middle-aged and elderly people who participated in the NILS-LSA (National Institute for Longevity Sciences, Longitudinal Study of Aging) from November, 1997 to March, 1999 and responded to the questionnaires. The variables analyzed in the present study were demography and history of falls in the past one year. Circumstances of falls, e.g. time, location, activities associated with falls, cause of falls and degree of injury due to falls were asked when the subjects experienced a fall. Fear of falling was also investigated in all subjects. The prevalence of falls was 12.9% in the middle-aged group (40-59yr.) and 16.5% in the elderly group (60-79yr.). The distribution of time, location, activity associated with falls, cause and injury due to falls corresponded with previous fall studies among community-dwelling elderly people. The incidence of falls was extremely high during the daytime and outdoors. Falls occurred most frequently while walking. The majority of falls were due to extrinsic factors. About 40% of all falls caused no injury. As to the fear of falling, about 30% of the middle-aged subjects and about 60% of the elderly subjects reported that they were fearful. Our results suggested that fall accidents are not rare, even in middle-aged people.

Falls Are Associated with Stroke, Arthritis and Multiple Medications among Community-Dwelling Elderly Persons in Japan

“…Our results showed that falls were more common outdoors than indoors, and were more likely to be caused by extrinsic than intrinsic factors, which is consistent with previous findings (Niino et al 1995(Niino et al , 2000. Among our participants, 10% of those who fell sustained fractures, which is also consistent with previous findings (Aoyagi et al 1998;Niino et al 2000).…”

“…Among our participants, 10% of those who fell sustained fractures, which is also consistent with previous findings (Aoyagi et al 1998;Niino et al 2000).…”

“…Although not fatal, about 37.3 million falls are severe enough to require medical attention annually (WHO 2012). Popula tion-based studies in Japan have shown that 10%-20% of elderly persons fall every year, and that about 10% of them sustain fractures as a result (Yasumura et al 1994;Niino et al 1995Niino et al , 2000Aoyagi et al 1998).…”

Effects of Nonslip Socks on the Gait Patterns of Older People When Walking on a Slippery Surface

“…3 In 1 year, 59% of 91 self-reported falls were attributed to trips and slips in 50 independent, communitydwelling older people. 4 Because most falls in older people occur during locomotion, 5 the development of therapeutic interventions to enhance walking and reduce slip propensity is of great clinical importance.…”

Falls in Hip Fracture Patients: Relation between Fall Situations and ADL Capability before Injury

“…According to recent research reports of the Japanese Orthopedic Association, 70-80% of hip fractures occur by a fall from the standing position, and two-thirds of the falls take place inside the house [2]. This is actually quite different from the falls of general community dwellers, which occur mainly outside the house [3][4][5]. There have been several studies about the falls which lead to hip fracture but their situations have not been well investigated, and furthermore, most of the studies were done in Western countries [1,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”