Prevalence of falls and associated factors in community-dwelling older Brazilians: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Prevalence of falls and associated factors in community-dwelling older Brazilians: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Cad Saude Publica. 2019 Aug 29;35(8):e00115718 Authors: Elias Filho J, Borel WP, Diz JBM, Barbosa AWC, Britto RR, Felício DC Abstract Falls determine huge epidemiological, clinical, and economic burden in the older population worldwide, presenting high odds of severe disability. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of falls and associated factors in older Brazilians using a systematic review with meta-analysis. Searches were performed in SciELO, PubMed, LILACS, Web of Science, Scopus and PsycINFO databases with no date or language restrictions. Studies on community-dwelling older persons aged ≥ 60 years from both sexes and with a sample size of ≥ 300 participants included. Exclusion criteria were studies conducted specifically for older adults diagnosed with chronic disabling diseases that predispose them to falls. Risk of bias of included studies was assessed using a critical appraisal tool focusing on prevalence designs. A random-effects meta-analysis was used to pool the prevalence of falls across studies. Exploratory analysis was conducted examining subgroup estimates, prevalence ratios and meta-regression. Thirty-seven studies involving 58,597 participants were included. Twelve-month prevalence of falls was 27% (95%CI: 24.3-30.0), with significantly higher estimates in female than male (PR ...
Source: Cadernos de Saude Publica - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Cad Saude Publica Source Type: research