Prevalencia y factores asociados a caídas, en adultos mayores del Centro de Atención Gerontológica del Seguro Social, Cuenca 2013

Abstract

Background: Falls are a source of morbidity and mortalityin elderly, with high-cost in health services and disability on the individual. Objective: Determining the prevalence and associated factors of falls in the elderly of Gerontological Care Center of Social Security, Cuenca, 2013. Materials and Methods: Transversal study, Data were collected through the completion of the modified questionnaire of OMS, applied to 250 elderly, that included to elderly registered in Gerontological Care Center of Cuenca’s Social Security, which were selected on the random who are65 years old or older, and have accepted the informed consent and excluded older adults who don’t complied with previous criteria. Results: The mean age was at 73,78 years old, female 72,4%, and marital status married 54,8%. The prevalence of falls in the last 6 months was 22,4%. According Downton scale, 71% of elderly have low risk of further falls. 69,9% of elderly refer fear of falling again; in 30,4% of cases the floor where the fall succeeded was irregular. Conclusions: There was significant association with alcohol consumption in 4,59 times (IC 95% 3,92-5,8); with other intrinsic and extrinsic factors don’t exist significant association.

KEY WORDS: ELDERLY, DISSEASE, RISK FACTORS, PREVALENCY