Viveiro LAP1, Kallas ME2, Reis M2, Jacob Filho W2, Pompeu JE1
1University of Sao Paulo, Department of Physical Therapy, Speech and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2University of Sao Paulo, Department of Geriatric, School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Background: Most studies use the self-reported of falls to classify the older adult as faller, but is this classification reliable?
Purpose: We aimed to compare the self-report of falls with the notifications made by the nursing team regarding the occurrence of falls in older adults who live in nursing home.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Older adults were recruited from a nonprofit nursing home. All participants were interviewed by physiotherapist that asked the individual to answer the question: “How many times did you fall in the last year?”. Besides that, the total number of falls during the previous year according to a falls notification form provided by the nursing home was collected. We also classified the individuals as “fallers” (one or more falls) and “non-fallers” (no falls), for self-reported of falls and for notification of falls. We excluded the individuals who did not completed one year in the nursing home. We used the paired t-test to compare the total number of self-report of falls and the total number of falls according to notification of falls. To compare the classification of fallers and non-fallers for self-reported and notification of falls, we used the McNemar test. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 20). We used a level of significance of p 0.05.
Results: Fifty-seven individuals were included in our sample, 34 were women (59.6%) and 23 were men (40.4%). Their mean age (SD) was 79.5 (7.5) years. The mean of total number of self-reported falls in our sample was 1.2 (4.5), and the mean of total number of falls according to notification of falls was 1.7 (4.5). There was no difference between the self-report and notification regarding the number of falls (paired t-test, p= 0.43). However, 16 (28.1%) individuals classified themselves as fallers, while 27 (47.4%) individuals were in fact considered fallers by the falls notification form of the nursing home (McNemar test, p= 0.01).
Conclusion(s): There was no difference between the self-report and the notification regarding the number of falls. However, there was difference regarding the classification as fallers and non-fallers when we compared the self-report with the notification of falls.
Implications: The self-report is not as reliable as the notification for the classification of the older adult as faller. We speculate that this difference can be related to the wrong concept of falls or with the memory problems of the older adults. New studies are necessary to analyze this hypothesis.
Keywords: Postural balance, accidental falls, aged
Funding acknowledgements: We are grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for the Ph.D. scholarship.
Purpose: We aimed to compare the self-report of falls with the notifications made by the nursing team regarding the occurrence of falls in older adults who live in nursing home.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Older adults were recruited from a nonprofit nursing home. All participants were interviewed by physiotherapist that asked the individual to answer the question: “How many times did you fall in the last year?”. Besides that, the total number of falls during the previous year according to a falls notification form provided by the nursing home was collected. We also classified the individuals as “fallers” (one or more falls) and “non-fallers” (no falls), for self-reported of falls and for notification of falls. We excluded the individuals who did not completed one year in the nursing home. We used the paired t-test to compare the total number of self-report of falls and the total number of falls according to notification of falls. To compare the classification of fallers and non-fallers for self-reported and notification of falls, we used the McNemar test. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 20). We used a level of significance of p 0.05.
Results: Fifty-seven individuals were included in our sample, 34 were women (59.6%) and 23 were men (40.4%). Their mean age (SD) was 79.5 (7.5) years. The mean of total number of self-reported falls in our sample was 1.2 (4.5), and the mean of total number of falls according to notification of falls was 1.7 (4.5). There was no difference between the self-report and notification regarding the number of falls (paired t-test, p= 0.43). However, 16 (28.1%) individuals classified themselves as fallers, while 27 (47.4%) individuals were in fact considered fallers by the falls notification form of the nursing home (McNemar test, p= 0.01).
Conclusion(s): There was no difference between the self-report and the notification regarding the number of falls. However, there was difference regarding the classification as fallers and non-fallers when we compared the self-report with the notification of falls.
Implications: The self-report is not as reliable as the notification for the classification of the older adult as faller. We speculate that this difference can be related to the wrong concept of falls or with the memory problems of the older adults. New studies are necessary to analyze this hypothesis.
Keywords: Postural balance, accidental falls, aged
Funding acknowledgements: We are grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for the Ph.D. scholarship.
Topic: Older people
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: School of Medicine at the University of Sao Paulo
Ethics committee: Research Ethics Committee
Ethics number: 1.818.309/2016
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
