Examination of the intrinsic risk of falls in inpatients in an environment modified to protect against extrinsic risks

Abstract

The rapid aging of Japan's population has led to an increase in the number of older adults who are injured from falls. This has also become a social issue, because the increase affects social security costs. In recent years, patients have received active rehabilitation interventions during hospitalization to prevent additional falling incidents and to improve activity after falls. Early acquisition of independence for movement within the wards is important for inpatients, but there is no clear standard for how to determine the degree of independence. Therefore, it is important to understand and reduce the risks of falls. Fall risk factors are categorized into extrinsic and intrinsic, and previous studies have demonstrated significant predictive factors for falls in older adults. Medical professionals play an important role in managing extrinsic risks while patients are hospitalized, and we implemented some intervenor those risks prior to the start of this research. As a result, the number of falls decreased in the months immediately following the countermeasures, although it later began to increase again. We examined the details of the falls and found that there were some risks caused by intrinsic factors. In this study, we investigated the relationship between intrinsic risks and falls in hospitalized patients in an environment modified to protect against extrinsic risks. This retrospective study included 80 subjects. The relationship between the presence or absence of falls and potential predictors were analyzed using a logistic regression analysis, with consideration of multicollinearity. Results indicated that the presence or absence of depression was a statistically significant factor. This study suggested that screening tests and treatments for depression may be effective in preventing falls.