Risk Factors and Profiles of Falls Among Inpatients in Vietnam: A Multicenter Nested Case-Control Study

Falls among inpatients represent a significant global health concern and are among the leading causes of accidental death. However, hospital falls are context- and population dependent. This study aimed to investigate the risk factors contributing to falls and the fall profiles among Vietnamese inpatients.

A nested case-control study was conducted at nine public hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City. For every fall identified through the medical fall incident reporting system, four controls (ie, nonfall patients) were also selected from medical records within the same department and timeframe. Medical records were extracted, which included detailed information about the falls.

Among 101 fall cases and 404 nonfall controls, several risk factors for falls were found, including reduced strength and mobility (OR=3.08, 95% 1.30-7.30), nocturia (OR=9.08, 95% CI 4.04-20.45), having more than two diseases (OR=2.76, 95% CI 1.53-4.98), using walking aids (OR=23.26, 95% CI 10.20-53.03), using medical devices (OR=3.44, 95% CI 1.92-6.15) and using antiepileptics (OR=3.94, 95% CI 1.22-12.77). About 19.8% of the falls occurred within the first 24 hours from admission and the most common time of falls was from 0:00 am to 5:59 am (44.6%). The patient bed and bathroom were the most frequent locations for falls, accounting for 44.55% and 37.62% of the cases, respectively. More than 40% of the falls occurred when the patients were with their personal caregivers.

Although intervention programs can use these risk factors to target those who have a high risk of falling, to optimize resources, such programs should consider the fall patterns found in our study.