title: Risk of fall-related injury in people with lower limb amputations: A prospective cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess fall-related injury risk and risk factors in people with lower limb amputation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective longitudinal cohort with follow-up every 6 months for up to 41 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community-dwelling adults with lower limb amputations of any etiology and level recruited from support groups and prosthetic clinics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Demographic and clinical characteristics were obtained by self-reported questionnaire and telephone or in-person follow-up. Fall-related injury incidence requiring medical care per person-month and adjusted hazard ratio of fall-related injury were calculated using multivariable proportional hazards regression modeling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 41 subjects, with 782 follow-up person-months in total, had 11 fall-related injury incidents (14.1/1,000 person-months). During follow-up, 56.1% of subjects reported falling and 26.8% reported fall-related injury. Multivariable proportional hazard modeling showed that women were nearly 6 times more likely as men to experience fall-related injury and people of non-white race were 13 times more likely than people of white race to experience fall-related injury. The final predictive model also included vascular amputation and age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Risk of fall-related injury requiring medical care in people with lower limb amputation appears to be higher than in older adult inpatients. Intervention programs to prevent fall-related injury in people with lower limb amputation should target women and racial minorities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, Neurological Institute 8-822, 710 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA. ckw7@columbia.edu, ckw7@cumc.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Christopher Kevin
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Stanford T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chihuri
authors.forename: Guohua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000674:Amputees; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D044469:Racial Groups; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors