[Incidence of falls and fractures in disabled elderly people utilizing long-term care insurance]

To investigate the incidence of falls and fall-related fractures in disabled elderly people utilizing long-term care insurance, and influence of gender, age, disabled level is examined.

Subjects were 8,335 elderly people (mean age, 82.2+/-7.4 years). Falls and fractures were investigated retrospectively for the one year study period either via a self-report questionnaire, or via care workers and/or family members when the subjects had cognitive impairments. The care workers gave are a free description about for the fall that had occurred when using the facilities.

Men showed significantly higher rate of falls (26.8%) than women (24.6%). In women, there was a significant difference in fall rates between the severely disabled group (26.4%) and the moderately disabled group (23.5%). Women showed a significantly higher rate of fractures (12.2%) than that of men (4.5%). In relationship between fall-related fractures and potential correlates, there was a significant relation between women and the fall-related fractures [OR 2.5, 95%CI 1.7-3.6]. The severely disabled group showed a significantly higher rate of falls in the toilet, on the other hand, the moderately disabled group showed significantly higher rate of falls during exercise and recreation or standing.

The rate of falls in women was lower than men in this study population. The result may be affected by the lower proportion of women in the moderately disabled group compared with men. Only gender was significantly associated with the incidence of fall-related fractures in disabled elderly people.