Home environmental hazards and the risk of fall injury events among community-dwelling older persons. Study to Assess Falls Among the Elderly (SAFE) Group.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if home environmental hazards increase the risk of fall injury events among community-dwelling older persons.


METHODS
Population-based case-control study.


METHODS
South Miami Beach, Florida.


METHODS
270 persons aged 65 years and older who sought treatment at six area hospitals for injuries resulting from falls within the dwelling unit and 691 controls, frequency matched for sex and age, selected randomly from Health Care Financing Administration (Medicare) files.


METHODS
The home environment of each person, assessed directly by interviewers using a standardized instrument.


RESULTS
Environmental hazards were present in nearly all dwelling units. After adjusting for important confounding factors, most of these hazards were not associated with an increased risk of fall injury events among most older persons. Increasing numbers of tripping hazards, or total hazards in the dwelling unit, did not increase the risk of fall injury events, nor was there an increasing trend in risk.


CONCLUSIONS
Current fall-prevention strategies of finding and changing all environmental hazards in all community-dwelling older persons' homes may have less potential effect than previously thought. The usefulness of grab bars, however, appears to warrant further evaluation.
Sattin
R W
RW
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia 30341-3724, USA.
Rodriguez
J G
JG
DeVito
C A
CA
Wingo
P A
PA
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012306:Risk; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control