Relationship of falls among the elderly and frailty components

To evaluate whether the occurrence of falls in the year preceding the interview is associated with frailty components after a four-year period.

Data were obtained from the second round of the Health, Well-being and Aging SABE Study, conducted in 2006, when 1,413 elderly people were interviewed. Individuals considered weak according to the Fried model were excluded, resulting in 1,207 elderly at the study entry. The explanatory variable was taken as the falls in the year prior to the 2006 survey. In 2010, the survivors were evaluated for the five frailty components. The statistical test with correction for the sample project -(Rao-Scott) was applied to assess the association between frailty and falls at the beginning of the study.

Of the 1,413 individuals in the 2006 sample, 1,397 registered falls in the year before the interview and evaluation of fragility. The fragility of components for risk factors for the occurrence of falls were: (1)reduced grip strength (no falls: 21.8%; falls: 31.5%; relative risk - RR = 1.44; and p = 0.003); and (2) exhaustion (no falls: 7.6%; falls:14.7%; RR = 1.93; and p = 0.003).

This finding suggests longitudinal studies in order to clarify the causality of falls in the elderly, considering the aspects of temporality between exposure and the event.