Investigation of Causes and Risk Factors for Falls of Patients over 65 years’ old who Applied with the Complaint of Fall to the Department of Emergency

Objective: We searched 65 years of age and older patients presenting to the emergency department with falls, we aim to find causes and risk factors for falls. Methods: Our study is cross-sectional and descriptive with comparisons within groups. Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living and a questionnaire which has 35 question were applied to 250 patients. Results: The mean age of the patients in our study was 79.0 ± 8.5 and 60.8% were female. The most frequent falls were at autumn (36.4%), sunny (48%) and between 06:00-12: 00 hours (42.4%). The most frequent falls were in the house, and the main cause of falls was stuck somewhere. 49.6% of the patients had history of fall.The mean Barthel score of the patients was 82.6 ± 24.2; the highest dependence was found to be bathing and stair climbing. Patients mostly diagnosed as fracture (55.2%), second diagnosis was soft tissue injury(45.6%). Femur fracture was detected in 21.6% of the cases. 31.2% of the patients were hospitalized. Geriatric patients older than 75 years old had significantly higher frequency of fall before(p<0,001), assisted device use(p<0,001), comorbid disease (p=0,02), fracture(p=0,024) and hospitalization (p=0,022). Female patients rate of fall in home was higher (p=0,01). Conclusion: We found that older age and female gender are predisposing factors of falls. Many other factors in the geriatric patient population play a role in the direct or indirect fall etiology. Many of these factors can be corrected with simple measures to be taken and could be avoided