Interventions to Prevent Falls in Older Adults

Abstract

ImportanceFalls are the most common cause of injury-related morbidity and mortality in older adults.ObjectiveTo systematically review evidence on the effectiveness and harms of fall prevention interventions in community-dwelling older adults.Data SourcesMEDLINE, Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials for relevant English-language literature published between January 1, 2016, and May 8, 2023, with ongoing surveillance through March 22, 2024.Study SelectionRandomized clinical trials of interventions to prevent falls in community-dwelling adults 65 years or older.Data Extraction and SynthesisCritical appraisal and data abstraction by 2 independent reviewers. Random-effects meta-analyses with Knapp-Hartung adjustment.Main Outcomes and MeasuresFalls, injurious falls, fall-related fractures, hospitalizations or emergency department visits, people with 1 or more falls, people with injurious falls, people with fall-related fractures, and harms.ResultsEighty-three fair- to good-quality randomized clinical trials (n = 48 839) examined the effectiveness of 6 fall prevention interventions in older adults. This article focuses on the 2 most studied intervention types: multifactorial (28 studies; n = 27 784) and exercise (37 studies; n = 16 117) interventions. Multifactorial interventions were associated with a statistically significant reduction in falls (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.84 [95% CI, 0.74-0.95]) but not a statistically significant reduction in individual risk of 1 or more falls (relative risk [RR], 0.96 [95% CI, 0.91-1.02]), injurious falls (IRR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.84-1.01]), fall-related fractures (IRR, 1.01 [95% CI, 0.81-1.26]), individual risk of injurious falls (RR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.83-1.02]), or individual risk of fall-related fractures (RR, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.60-1.24]). Exercise interventions were associated with statistically significant reductions in falls (IRR, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.75-0.96]), individual risk of 1 or more falls (RR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.87-0.98]), and injurious falls (IRR, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.74-0.95]) but not individual risk of injurious falls (RR, 0.90 [95% CI, 0.79-1.02]). Harms associated with multifactorial and exercise interventions were not well reported and were generally rare, minor musculoskeletal symptoms associated with exercise.Conclusions and RelevanceMultifactorial and exercise interventions were associated with reduced falls in multiple good-quality trials. Exercise demonstrated the most consistent statistically significant benefit across multiple fall-related outcomes.