Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1904245 Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 2008 14 Pages PDF
Abstract

People with dementia are at increased risk of falling. The purpose of this study was to identify predisposing risk factors for falls in older people with and without a diagnose of dementia living in residential care facilities, and to compare the results. Eighty-three residents without dementia (mean age ± S.D.; 83.5 ± 7.1 years) and 103 with dementia (83.6 ± 6.3 years) in Umeå, Sweden, participated. The baseline assessment included probable risk factors like walking ability, diagnoses and treatment with drugs. The follow-up period was 6 months. In people with dementia, the fall rate was higher (crude incidence rate ratio 2.55, 95% CI 1.60–4.08) and a larger proportion experienced falls (62% versus 41%). In the group without dementia 54.8% of the variation in falls was explained by a model including orthostatism, “women walking with aid”, and treatment with Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. In the group with dementia 25.5% of the variation in falls was explained by a model including “man walking with aid”. Our results show that with the same set of common risk factors for falls a considerably lower proportion of the variation in falls can be explained in the group of people with dementia.

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