title: [Falls and fractures among older adults living in long-term care].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of falls and fractures over the past 12 months and associated factors among older adults living in long-term care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Census of all long-term care located in the city of Pelotas, Brazil, in 2008. Falls over the past 12 months were assessed using the following question: "Over the last 12 months, have you fallen?" For those who replied positively, another question was asked: "In any of these falls, have you fractured a bone?" Sex, age, schooling, disability relating to basic activities of daily living, type of financing of the long-term care and hospital admissions were the independent variables. We used chi-square tests for heterogeneity and linear trend in the unadjusted analysis, and Poisson regression with robust variance in the adjusted one.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Within the 24 long-term care studied, we collected data for 466 individuals. The prevalence of falls in the past year was 38.9% (95%CI 34.5; 43.4). Among those who have fallen, 19.2% had fractures. Femur (hip) was the most frequent site fractured (43.4%), followed by wrist (10%). In the adjusted analysis, older age, disability for 1-5 basic activities of daily living, living in public institutions and hospital admissions in the last year were associated with higher risk of falls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high prevalence of falls and fractures highlights the fragility of the individuals living in long-term care. Special attention should be paid to older adults and those with hospital admissions in the last year.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação Física da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Florianópolis, SC, Brazil. gfdel-duca@gmail.com
authors.forename: Giovâni Firpo
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Del Duca
authors.forename: Danielle Ledur
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Antes
authors.forename: Pedro Curi
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hallal
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes