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Falls in Mexican older adults aged 60 years and older

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Abstract

Background

Falls are a major cause of disability, morbidity, institutionalization, and mortality in older adults.

Objectives

The purpose of the study was to examine the risk factors for falls among Mexican older adults aged 60 years and older.

Methods

This study included 6247 participants and their spouse or partner aged 60 years and older from the Mexican Health and Aging Study, an ongoing longitudinal study (2001–2012) conducted in Mexico. Measures included socio-demographics, falls, physical activity, comorbid conditions, pain, vertigo, vision and hearing impairments, urinary incontinence, lower extremity functional limitation, activities of daily living (ADLs), cognitive function, and depressive symptoms.

Results

Mean age was 69.6 years (standard error = 0.18) and 51.8% were female. Forty percent reported one or more falls at baseline. Older age, being female, obesity, arthritis, fractures, stroke, suffering pain, vertigo, lower extremity functional limitations, physical activity, depressive symptoms, urinary incontinence, and ADL disability were significant factors associated with one or more falls over time.

Discussion

Early detection and treatment of the risk factors for falls in this population will help improve the quality of life and reduce medical complications and health care costs.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in http://www.mhasweb.org/.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging (R01-AG018016, R.W. [PI]), INEGI in Mexico and by the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Sealy Center on Aging and the Pepper Center (P30-AG024832, E.V. [PI]). Dr. Valderrama-Hinds was a visiting scholar in the WHO/PAHO Collaborating Center on Aging and Health at UTMB during this study. The study sponsors had no role in the study design, analysis, or interpretation of the data. Study sponsors did not have any role in the writing of the article or the submission to a journal. The authors acknowledge the assistance of Sarah Toombs Smith, PhD, ELS, in article preparation. Dr. Toombs Smith received no compensation for this effort beyond her salary at the UTMB Sealy Center on Aging.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sealy Center on Aging, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Luis M Valderrama-Hinds, Soham Al Snih & Rebeca Wong

  2. Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Universitario de Caracas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

    Luis M Valderrama-Hinds & Martin A Rodriguez

  3. Centro Nacional de Enfermedades Reumáticas, Hospital Universitario de Caracas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

    Luis M Valderrama-Hinds & Martin A Rodriguez

  4. Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, School of Health Professions, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd., Galveston, TX, 77555-0177, USA

    Soham Al Snih

  5. Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Soham Al Snih

  6. Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Nai-wei Chen & Rebeca Wong

Authors
  1. Luis M Valderrama-Hinds
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  2. Soham Al Snih
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  3. Nai-wei Chen
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  4. Martin A Rodriguez
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  5. Rebeca Wong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Soham Al Snih.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The MHAS study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards or Ethics Committees of the University of Texas Medical Branch (in the United States) and the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (INEGI) and the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (INSP) (in Mexico); and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Oral informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Valderrama-Hinds, L.M., Al Snih, S., Chen, Nw. et al. Falls in Mexican older adults aged 60 years and older. Aging Clin Exp Res 30, 1345–1351 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0950-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0950-9

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