Comparative study of patients with recurrent falls and hip fracture in an orthogeriatric unit

Abstract

Objectives.– To study the factors that increase the risk of recurrent falls. Patients and methods.– In patients older than 69 years hospitalized for hip fracture was assessed the independent association of different variables (clinical, functional and therapeutic) with the risk of recurrent falls by building a logistic regression model using the Odds Ratio (OR) and confidence interval 95% (95%) as a measure of association. We also checked the discriminative ability of the final model by calculating the area under the ROC curve (rock). Results.–Were identified in the finalmodel as independent risk factors for relapse: the level of dependence (OR vs mild dependence. Independence 5.42 95% CI 1.68 to 17.5, OR severe dependence vs. independence to 16.97 95% 3, 74 to 77.0), osteoarthritis (OR 2.56, 95%CI1.03 to6.38), historyofprevious surgery (OR4.57, 95%CI1.63 to 12.8) anxiety-depression (OR 4.01, 95% CI 1.49 10.8), taking neuroleptics (OR 4.01, 95% CI 0.77 to 13.4) and the use of ACE inhibitors (OR 2.82; 95% CI 1.09 7.30). Themodel showed good discriminative ability with rock (0.84, 95% 0.77 to 0.91). Conclusions.– In patients over 69 years, we identified several risk factors for recurrent falls, especially those related to the degree of dependence and mood disorders It would be possible, with these variables, discriminate patients with an increased risk of frequent falls and act accordingly.