[Circumstances associated to falls resulting in hip fracture in community-dwelling subjects older than 94 years old].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the circumstances associated with falls resulting in hip fracture in the 95 years of age or older community-dwelling patients.


METHODS
A prospective, observational study, was conducted in 6 hospitals in the Barcelona area on the characteristics associated with falls resulting in hip fracture in 30 patients aged > 94 years old. Location, time and the risk factor for the fall (classified as intrinsic, extrinsic or combined) were evaluated.


RESULTS
Mean number of falls in the previous year was 1.6, 5 (16.7%) of the patients reporting having fallen two or more times. Falls usually occurred while at home, a high percentage (46.7%) of which occurred during the night. When the differences were evaluated by sex, there was a high percentage of uncorrected auditory loss in men and high number of chronic drugs and psychotropic drugs in women.


CONCLUSIONS
Most falls causing hip fracture in community-dwelling very elderly subjects occur at home. Nearly half of the falls occur during the night.
Formiga
F
F
Unidad de Geriatría, Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. fformiga@csub.scs.es
López-Soto
A
A
Duaso
E
E
Ruiz
D
D
Chivite
D
D
Pérez-Castejón
J M
JM
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies