Assessment of the risk of falls in elderly

Abstract

The increase in life expectancy and the following growth of the elderly population has modified the morbimortality profile. The functional decline that occurs with aging is one of the factors that cause falls in the elderly. Falls are common and serious accidents, and are responsible for a large number of injuries and fractures, which causes longer be considered a geriatric syndrome. The objective of this study was to assess the fall risks in elderly that attend the Regional Centre of Studies Applied to Third Age of the University of Passo Fundo UPF. To collect the data, the Downton fall risk protocol was used. The sample was composed of 68 elderly individuals, 31 (45.5%) showed risk for falls, and in those who showed risk for falls, 24 (77.4%) had already fallen before. The results must be used to generate preventive and rehabilitative actions to decrease the risks for falls in the elderly population.