Assessment of Fall Risk and its Association with Frailty among Elderly

Abstract

Falls are a major public health concern about 10% of falls result in serious injuries like traumatic brain injury. Falls can cause poor quality of life and financial costs for both individuals and society. Early detection of who are at high risk of falling makes it easier to provide rehabilitation therapy in the future. Objectives: To assess functional mobility, fall risk and its association with frailty among elderly. Methods: This cross-sectional study design comprised 90 male / female elderly patients ages 65 to 75. Subjects with limb amputation history, cognitive impairment and ICU status were excluded. Data were gathered from DHQ Kasur andAriz Memorial Hospital. Non-probability convenience sampling was applied. Ethical approval was obtained from institute before conducting research study ran July 2022 to December 2022.Evaluation tools included Berg Balance Scale, Elderly Mobility Scale, Functional Reach Test, and FRAIL Scale. SPSS version 25.0 used to analyze data. Frequencies, percentages, cross tabulations, bar charts, and pie charts were used to display the categorical variables. Results: Frailty and fall risk are significantly correlated, with a p-value of less than < 0.001. Mobility and Frailty had significant relationship (p< 0.001). There was significant association between Frailty and balance dysfunction with (p<0.001). There was significant association between Frailty and fall risk with (p<0.001). Conclusions: Results suggested that frail elderly were at higher risk of fall and their functional mobility is more compromised as compared to non-frail.