Armed with data that one in three older people falls each year, researchers at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health wanted to take a closer look into the topic—specifically, to study the risk factors that lead to falls in residential care facilities.
“Many of these falls may result in injuries or even death,” says Samuel D. Towne Jr., research assistant professor, Program on Healthy Aging, Department of Health Promotion & Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health at Texas A&M Health Science Center (College Station, Texas). “Even those falls that do not result in injury may affect one’s confidence in being able to prevent falls, which may make them less likely to engage in physical activity or social activities, all of which may affect one’s quality of life and likelihood of suffering a fall.”
The researchers statistically analyzed data from the 2010 National Survey of Residential Care Facilities, which includes assisted living communities, to find new insights, including who is most at risk and the effect of a community’s size on incident rates. The study was published in the Journal of Aging and Health this spring.
One of the most surprising findings was the “sheer size of the issue,” Towne says. “We found that approximately 15 percent of people in these facilities suffer an injurious fall.” Among those, women needing some assistance with daily tasks, such as dressing or walking, are more prone to accidents.
Towne attributes this to the fact that those already needing assistance may potentially be more frail and less steady on their feet. Additionally, he says, “the likelihood of engaging in regular physical activity among women is lower than among men,” which could also increase their fall risk.
The size of the senior living community was also identified as another contributing factor, with small- and medium-sized communities (four to 25 beds) accounting for 11 percent of falls while larger facilities (26 to more than 100 beds) reached nearly 16 percent. However, the researchers weren’t able to pinpoint why size matters using the available data.
“More research is needed to identify why smaller facilities serve as a protective factor for injurious falls,” Towne says. “Furthermore, understanding the role of staffing ratios in relation to facility size should also be explored in future research, given the differences in facility size and fall risk in the current analysis.”
Acknowledging that many designers and senior living communities are adding safety features such as handrails, grab bars, floor lighting, and technology that predicts falls or notifies caregivers of an incident, Towne says he’d also like to see a push for safe environments that encourage activities such as walking.
“Engaging in regular physical activity is one way to reduce the likelihood of falls among older adults,” he says.
