Care management service and falls prevention: a case-control study in a Chinese population.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluates the effect of a care management service (CMS) on falls in older adults.


METHODS
This is a retrospective case-control study with 78 CMS recipients as the case group who received CMS and another 312 community-dwelling frail elders as the control group.The groups were matched by age, gender, activity of daily living, cognitive impairment, and unsteady gait. Thus they were comparable in characteristics and frailty.


RESULTS
Among the 390 participants, 89 older adults (23.0%) had falls in the 90 days prior to the survey. After controlling for the identified risk factors for falls, the odds ratio of CMS was 0.27 (95% confidence interval = 0.110-0.663, p < .01).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that CMS recipients have a lower chance for falls compared to their counterparts. The two features of CMS (comprehensive assessment and multidisciplinary actions to reduce fall risks) are discussed.
Leung
Angela Y M
AY
Sau Po Centre on Aging, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China. angleung@hku.hk
Lou
Vivian W Q
VW
Chan
Kin Sun
KS
Yung
Alison
A
Chi
Iris
I
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D019090:Case Management; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011594:Psychometrics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology