Risk factors for injuries among the elderly in Greece

Extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors for injuries among the elderly in Greece were investigated in a hospital based case-control study. Cases were 200 elderly persons, residents of the Greater Athens area, who contacted the "Laiko" University Hospital for accident-related injuries, during a 10-month period, whereas the control series comprised 385 elderly who, during the same period, contacted the same hospital for non-injury related medical reasons. Data were analyzed by modeling through multiple logistic regression. Statistically significant associations were found for smoking vs non-smoking [odds ratio (OR) 2.40; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22-4.70], moderate use of alcoholic beverages vs non use (OR 0.37; CI 0.23-0.61) and house safety score (OR 0.72; CI 0.56-0.93 for an improvement by 1 unit). Non statistically significant positive associations were noted with history of previous hospitalizations for injury, chronic central nervous system conditions, defective hearing, refractive eye disorders, current use of psychoactive drugs, excessive use of alcoholic beverages, other than ground floor residency, cohabitation with fewer members and other than currently married status. Restricted activity was assessed in subsamples of cases and controls and was associated with somewhat reduced risk for injury (OR for one unit increase in a 10 unit modified Groningen activity scale is 1.06; CI 0.99 to 1.13). Overall, these results suggest that there is a constellation of plausible risk factors for injuries among the elderly.