Does gender make a difference in the risk of falls? A Japanese study

The number of elderly people in the world is increasing at a remarkable rate and the rate of aging in Japan is the world's highest. According to a statistical survey done in 1994, people over 65 years of age constitute 14.1% of the Japanese population. In addition, the Japanese average life expectancy in 1991 was the highest in the world, reaching 76.1 years for men and 82.1 years for women. A prominent health problem among elderly people is immobility which can result in elderly patients becoming bedridden (Eto, 1992). Recently, the problem of falls among the frail elderly has received increased interest. Although fall mortality in the Japanese elderly was not as high as those of France or the United States (Rockett & Smith, 1989), falls lead to deterioration in the health and physical status of the elderly. If falls could be reduced among the elderly, many of the health problems attributed to immobility among the Japanese elderly would be reduced. Some falls have a single and obvious cause, but most appear to result from several factors. With better knowledge of the causes and risk factors for falls among the elderly, effective preventive measures can be instituted (Tinetti, Speechley, & Ginter, 1988; Ryynanen, 1994; Teno, Kiel, & Mor 1990). There are few studies concerning falls among the institutionalized elderly (Haga, Shibata, Shichida, Matsuzaki, & Hatano, 1986) and community-dwelling elderly in Japan (Yasumura et al., 1994; Niino et al., 1995; Suzuki et al., 1991, 1992; Suzuki, Yamada, Takahashi, & Tsuchiya, 1991; Suzuki, Yamada, & Tsuchiya, 1993). The purpose of this study was to investigate falls among the elderly, selected at random, who live in Koga, a city in eastern Japan.