Falls in the Elderly at Angre University Hospital

Abstract

Background: Falls in older people can have serious consequences for their well-being and life expectancy. However, the information available remains insufficient in our context. Objective: The overall aim is to contribute to a better understanding of falls in the elderly. Material and Method: This is a retrospective, descriptive study of the records of patients aged 65 and over who consulted a geriatric unit in Côte d’Ivoire. It focused on patients who had reported at least one fall in the 12 months preceding their consultation, regardless of where the fall occurred. Results: Prevalence was 14%, with an average age of 75.4 years and a sex ratio of 0.5. Balance and walking disorders were the main pathological cause of falls (50%). Most patients (87%) lived in the city and were faced with inadequate lighting (37%) and inappropriate footwear (95.4%). The main drug treatments followed were antihypertensive drugs (25%), followed by anticoagulants (13.9%). Falls occurred while walking (35.2%) and standing (23.1%), and were repeated in 49.1%. The traumatic consequences were mainly limb pain (27.8%) and arthralgia (22.2%) were the most common and also, 65.7% could not recover without assistance. Depression was found in 9.3% of patients. The trend was marked by a mortality rate of 5.5% of cases. Conclusion: Falls are frequent, caused by problems with balance and walking, and by environmental factors. They can have serious traumatic consequences and major psychological repercussions.