TY - JOUR
T1 - Frailty as a predictor of falls in older Mexican Americans
AU - Samper-Ternent, Rafael
AU - Karmarkar, Amol
AU - Graham, James
AU - Reistetter, Tim
AU - Ottenbacher, Ken
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported in part by the National Institute of Aging of the National Institutes of Health [Grants R01 AG10939-17, R01 AG017638-08] and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development [Grant K12 H0055929]. Infrastructure support provided in part by the Sealy Center on Aging at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
PY - 2012/6
Y1 - 2012/6
N2 - Objective: Examine the relationship between frailty and falls. Method: A total of 847 Mexican Americans from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly were evaluated. The outcome variable was fall occurrence. Some predictor variables included were frailty, sociodemographic variables, functional and health status, and prior falls. Results: Those who fell were more likely to be women, not married, had prior falls, more functional problems and poorer health. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) for falls was 1.9 for nonfrail individuals and 3.2 for frail individuals. Prefrail individuals had 1.36 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.11, 1.67]), individuals with prior falls had 1.26 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.15, 1.37]), and those with poor balance had 1.49 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.15, 1.95]) over the 2 years (p <.01). Discussion: Frailty increases the odds of falls in older Mexican Americans. Interventions tailored to reduce fall incidence and improve health care quality for older Mexican Americans are needed.
AB - Objective: Examine the relationship between frailty and falls. Method: A total of 847 Mexican Americans from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly were evaluated. The outcome variable was fall occurrence. Some predictor variables included were frailty, sociodemographic variables, functional and health status, and prior falls. Results: Those who fell were more likely to be women, not married, had prior falls, more functional problems and poorer health. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) for falls was 1.9 for nonfrail individuals and 3.2 for frail individuals. Prefrail individuals had 1.36 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.11, 1.67]), individuals with prior falls had 1.26 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.15, 1.37]), and those with poor balance had 1.49 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.15, 1.95]) over the 2 years (p <.01). Discussion: Frailty increases the odds of falls in older Mexican Americans. Interventions tailored to reduce fall incidence and improve health care quality for older Mexican Americans are needed.
KW - accidental falls
KW - frail elderly
KW - older Mexican Americans
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U2 - 10.1177/0898264311428490
DO - 10.1177/0898264311428490
M3 - Article
C2 - 22187090
AN - SCOPUS:84860296739
SN - 0898-2643
VL - 24
SP - 641
EP - 653
JO - Journal of aging and health
JF - Journal of aging and health
IS - 4
ER -