Prevalence and factors associated with falls in elderly from Estação-RS: a cross-sectional population-based study

Abstract Objective This study evaluated factors associated with falls in the elderly from Estação, Rio Grande do Sul. Method A cross‑sectional study with 418 elderly. Questionnaires included personal and family information: sex, age, race, who they live with, neighborhood, marital status and retirement. Health and life habit such as chronic pain, self-feeding, self-bathing, and get in/out of bed, up/down stairs, arthritis/arthrosis, hearing impairment, visual impairment, hypertension, rheumatism, osteoporosis and ischemia brain. The dependent variable was “occurrence of falls in the last 12 months preceding the interview.” Calculated for relative and absolute frequency for sample characteristic. We tested the association between the outcome and independent variables through the chi‑square test gross and multivariate analyzes using Poisson regression, estimating gross and adjusted prevalence ratios, calculated the confidence intervals of 95% to a p≤0.05. Results The prevalence of falls in the year preceding the survey was 63.8%. After multivariate analysis the following variables remained significantly associated: illiteracy (PR = 1,67), chronic pain (PR = 2,34) and cerebral ischemia (PR = 2,30). Conclusion The research presented a high prevalence of falls among the elderly and shows that the associated factors are modifiable and preventable.