Page 35 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2021. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo / Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
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l risk assessment for home-dwelling older adults - pilot study fizioterapija in zdravje starejših odraslih | physiotherapy and health of the elderly
Tjaša Knific, Martina Horvat, Maja Čeplak
National Institute of Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction. Falls are an important public health and socio-economic problem,
as it represents a major burden on the health of older adults, affecting the in-
jured, their families and society. About one-third of older people living in the
community fall at least once a year. Falls usually have far-reaching consequences
for people’s lives, often leading to irreversible impairment of physical and men-
tal function, institutionalization and death. Rehabilitation of the consequences
of falls is time consuming and expensive for the health care system. Fall caus-
es are a complex combination of biological and behavioral factors and factors
of the physical and socio-economic environment. The main purpose of our re-
search was to assess risk for falls and functional status of elderly people, liv-
ing at home. Needs assessment will help us at further designing of preventive
treatment for the elderly at their homes.
Methods. The pilot study included 5984 participants (67 % F, 33 % M; mean age,
79.7 years [SD, 7.7]), older than 64 years, from 27 pilot environments, from all
Slovenian health regions. Fall risk assessment consisted of two parts; 1) struc-
tured interview, with translated STEADI questionnaire- Risk assessment for
falls and 2) muscle strength, gait and balance assessments with a functional test
– Timed up and go test (TUG). Final assessment depended from the number of
points scored on the questionnaire and the result of the functional test.
Results. The Fall risk assessment was obtained for 4883 (81.60 %) participants.
35 % (N = 1711) participants had low, 38.8 % (N = 1893) participants had me-
dium and 26.2 % (N = 1279) participants had high risk of falls after the assess-
ment.
Discussion and conclusions. From the analysis of the data we can conclude, there
are 65 % of the included older adults, living at home, who can be expected
to fall at least once in the coming year (medium or high risk of falls). Our con-
clusion supports maintenance of the treatment for falls in older adults, living
at home continuously after the end of a pilot study. Treatment should enable
multidisciplinary treatment. In this way, we could reverse the growing trend of
falls incidence in older adults and operate economically for active and healthy
aging.
Keywords: falls, elderly, healthy ageing
33
Tjaša Knific, Martina Horvat, Maja Čeplak
National Institute of Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction. Falls are an important public health and socio-economic problem,
as it represents a major burden on the health of older adults, affecting the in-
jured, their families and society. About one-third of older people living in the
community fall at least once a year. Falls usually have far-reaching consequences
for people’s lives, often leading to irreversible impairment of physical and men-
tal function, institutionalization and death. Rehabilitation of the consequences
of falls is time consuming and expensive for the health care system. Fall caus-
es are a complex combination of biological and behavioral factors and factors
of the physical and socio-economic environment. The main purpose of our re-
search was to assess risk for falls and functional status of elderly people, liv-
ing at home. Needs assessment will help us at further designing of preventive
treatment for the elderly at their homes.
Methods. The pilot study included 5984 participants (67 % F, 33 % M; mean age,
79.7 years [SD, 7.7]), older than 64 years, from 27 pilot environments, from all
Slovenian health regions. Fall risk assessment consisted of two parts; 1) struc-
tured interview, with translated STEADI questionnaire- Risk assessment for
falls and 2) muscle strength, gait and balance assessments with a functional test
– Timed up and go test (TUG). Final assessment depended from the number of
points scored on the questionnaire and the result of the functional test.
Results. The Fall risk assessment was obtained for 4883 (81.60 %) participants.
35 % (N = 1711) participants had low, 38.8 % (N = 1893) participants had me-
dium and 26.2 % (N = 1279) participants had high risk of falls after the assess-
ment.
Discussion and conclusions. From the analysis of the data we can conclude, there
are 65 % of the included older adults, living at home, who can be expected
to fall at least once in the coming year (medium or high risk of falls). Our con-
clusion supports maintenance of the treatment for falls in older adults, living
at home continuously after the end of a pilot study. Treatment should enable
multidisciplinary treatment. In this way, we could reverse the growing trend of
falls incidence in older adults and operate economically for active and healthy
aging.
Keywords: falls, elderly, healthy ageing
33
