title: Frailty as a predictor of falls in older Mexican Americans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Examine the relationship between frailty and falls.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 847 Mexican Americans from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly were evaluated. The outcome variable was fall occurrence. Some predictor variables included were frailty, sociodemographic variables, functional and health status, and prior falls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Those who fell were more likely to be women, not married, had prior falls, more functional problems and poorer health. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) for falls was 1.9 for nonfrail individuals and 3.2 for frail individuals. Prefrail individuals had 1.36 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.11, 1.67]), individuals with prior falls had 1.26 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.15, 1.37]), and those with poor balance had 1.49 higher odds of falls (95% CI [1.15, 1.95]) over the 2 years (p<.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Frailty increases the odds of falls in older Mexican Americans. Interventions tailored to reduce fall incidence and improve health care quality for older Mexican Americans are needed.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Medical Branch, and Rebecca Sealy Hospital, Galveston, TX 77555-0460, USA. rasamper@utmb.edu
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Samper-Ternent
authors.forename: Amol
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karmarkar
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reistetter
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ottenbacher
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors