Abstract
Objective: to analyze the risk of falling among the elderly assisted in an emergency hospital. Method: cross-sectional observational study conducted in the emergency department of a reference hospital in emergency, whose population was patients aged 60 or older, attended due to fall. The sample of 272 elderly was chosen through non-probability intentional sampling. Result: among study participants, the mean age was 74.4 years, ranging from 60 to 105 years. Most elderly were in the age group from 60 to 79 years and were females, most were married, illiterate, with monthly income of one to three minimum wages. There was a statistically significant association between high risk of falling, educational level and monthly income. Conclusion: results evidence the need to minimize the high prevalence of elderly people suffering injuries from falls and to prevent the loss of autonomy as a result of this type of accident.
Highlights
There has been significant changes in socioeconomic and health conditions of the population and, in its demographic structure
Results evidence the need to minimize the high prevalence of elderly people suffering injuries from falls and to prevent the loss of autonomy as a result of this type of accident
Most participants were in the age group 60-79 years (67.6%), were females (66.6%), most were married (47.1%), 72.1% had no education, were from Teresina (69.9%), received one to three minimum wages (83.4%)
Summary
There has been significant changes in socioeconomic and health conditions of the population and, in its demographic structure. It is noteworthy that, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the current numbers of this population group are quite high, especially in relation to the elderly over 80 years, considering that in the 1997-2009 period the elderly population between 60 and 69 years increased by 21.6%, while those with more than 80 increased by 47.8% [2] In this sense, the consequences are very clear and worrying to Brazilians, since there has been a decrease of young people and a significant growth of the elderly, and the aging phenomenon is occurring faster than the scheduled by public health. The acceleration of this event has emphasized the creation of social programs to assist this population, making possible the monitoring of this public [3]
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