Risk factors for falls among boys under 18 years with muscular dystrophy

Studies have shown that children with muscular dystrophy are at increased risk for falls, however there is insufficient information about what predicts the first and subsequent events. The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of injury with emphasis on identifying risk factors for fall-related injuries.

We studied 269 boys with muscular dystrophy describing their injury experience and identifying risk and protective factors associated with 281 non-simultaneous injuries and 127 falls that resulted in Emergency Department visits and/or inpatient hospitalization during the period 1998-2014. We used a Cox model to estimate the predictors of an initial fall and a zero-inflated Poisson model to identify the predictors for the number of falls.

Falls accounted for the greatest number of injury occurrences; The most frequent injury type was contusion. The factors that were protective for falls were steroid use, wheelchair use, or having a heart condition. Baseline age was negatively associated with the risk of having any fall, but not significantly related to subsequent falls.

Wheelchair use and heart conditions associated with reduced risk of falls likely reflects decreased mobility. Clinicians should help families identify factors associated with falls among those who remain ambulatory.