The ‘Ossébo’ intervention for the prevention of injurious falls in elderly women: background and design

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature that contributed to the design of the ‘Ossébo’ intervention and describes the study that is underway. Background: Falls and fall-related injuries are a major cause of morbidity and mortality among older people. Extensive research into falls prevention has established physical exercise as an efficient method to reduce falls, but the effect of exercise on serious injuries caused by falls remains unclear. Moreover, populations that would benefit most from these interventions, as well as factors that determine adherence to exercise remain underreported. The Ossébo intervervention: ‘Ossébo’ is an on-going multicenter randomized controlled trial, aiming to assess the effect of a two-year community-based group physical exercise program on the prevention of falls among women aged 75–85 years old. The primary outcome examined is the rate of falls and injurious falls: secondary outcomes include functional capacities, fear of falling and quality of life. This study will help determine the effectiveness of a large scale falls prevention program and the factors that can potentially assist its success.

The Effects of Physical Exercise on Balance and Prevention of Falls in Older People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Hewitt et al [45] tested the Sunbeam program, which consists of individually prescribed progressive resistance training plus balance exercise. The Ossébo intervention, used by El-Khoury et al [39], is composed of exercises designed to improve postural stability, muscle extensibility, balance, reaction time, coordination, and internal sense of spatial orientation [54]. The Lifestyle Approach to Reducing Falls through Exercise (LiFE) program, reported on by Clemson et al [46], is a home-based, lifestyle-integrated balance and muscle-strengthening exercise training program specifically developed for fall prevention.…”

Effectiveness of two year balance training programme on prevention of fall induced injuries in at risk women aged 75-85 living in community: Ossébo randomised controlled trial

“…The Ossébo study is a multicentre, balanced, two arm, parallel group, randomised controlled trial 1112 It applied a pragmatic approach13 14 and aimed to assess the effectiveness of the intervention under real world conditions with existing community resources (instructors, settings).…”

The necessary contribution of science to prevention

“…The 'Ossébo' study (8), for its part, is an ongoing study. This is a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial in a community setting on the effect of a program of physical exercise in the prevention of falls in women aged 75 to 85 years during a period of two years.…”