Evaluation of fall risk and associated factors in patients with dementia

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundFalling, which is common in the elderly and leads to negative consequences, can also be seen in dementia patients. The aim of this study is to determine the risk of falls in patients with dementia and to evaluate the factors associated with falls.MethodThe sample of this cross‐sectional study consisted of 95 patients with a diagnosis of definite dementia who attended a dementia outpatient clinic in a university hospital in Istanbul between January and March 2020. Patients using assistive devices while walking were not included in the study. A sociodemographic form, DENN Fall Risk Assessment Scale, Mini Mental State Test (MMSE), Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), Apathy Assessment Scale (AES), Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR), Cornell Depression in Dementia Scale (CSDD), Lawton and Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (Lawton IADL), and Katz Activities of Daily Living (Katz ADL) Scale were used for data collection.ResultsIt was determined that 53.7% of the patients were female and the mean age was 73.1±11.4. Most of the patients (64.2%) had Alzheimer’s type dementia, 49.5% had mild or moderate dementia, 75.8% had an additional chronic disease, 22.1% were semi‐dependent in movement activity. 47.4% of the individuals had a history of fall in the last month, 48.9% had fallen at least 2 times, the average number of falls was 1.5±0.5, 70.5% of the patients had injuries after falling, and the mean DENN Fall Risk score was found to be 10.4±3.4. In the group with a history of falling non‐Alzheimer dementias were more common (p = 0.018), NPI symptom (p<0.001) and bother (p<0.001) scores were higher, Lawton IADL scores were lower (p = 0.009), AES clinician (p = 0.054) and caregiver (p = 0.052) scores and Cornell depression score (CSDD) (p = 0.005) were higher.ConclusionFalling, which is the most common geriatric syndrome in dementia patients, can lead to negative patient outcomes. Most dementia patients have a history of falling and post‐fall injury. Factors associated with falls in dementia patients should be known, and appropriate nursing interventions should be made to prevent falls by recognizing the risk of falling. More work is needed on this subject.