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Published on: February 8, 2019
A Retrospective Cross-sectional Study on the Risk Factors of Recurrent Falls Among Inpatients
Wen-Pei Chang1, Hsiu-Ju Jen, Tsai-Wei Huang
1School of Nursing, College of Nursing (Drs Chang and Huang), and Cochrane Taiwan (Dr Huang), Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; and Department of Nursing, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan (Dr Chang and Ms Jen).
Background:
Recurrent falls are more likely to cause injuries and disabilities than single falls.
Purpose:
This study investigated the incidence and risk factors of recurrent falls among inpatients.
Methods:
We analyzed inpatient fall data from the anomaly event notification database and electronic medical records of a hospital. We collected data regarding 1059 inpatients who had fallen during their hospital stay. Among these inpatients, 390 (36.83%) had fallen within the previous year.
Results:
Inpatients in the orthopedics and neurology wards were at a higher risk of recurrent falls than those in surgical wards; inpatients who were physically dependent were at a higher risk of recurrent falls than those who were physically independent; inpatients with poor vision were at a lower risk of recurrent falls than those without this issue; and inpatients who were using antidepressants were at a higher risk of recurrent falls than those who were not using antidepressants.
Conclusion:
The risk of recurrent falls is highly correlated with ward type, physical independence, self-perceived good vision, and use of antidepressants.
