Prevalence of Falls among Older Adults in Africa : A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of studies that have examined the prevalence of falls among older adults living in Africa. Three investigators independently searched the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Web of Science from their inception date until September 2019. Participants were 5,815 older adults aged 60 years and above. The prevalence of falls was determined using the random effects meta-analysis, whereas meta-regression was conducted to investigate the moderating factors. Eleven of the 921 potentially relevant studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed a pooled prevalence of fall rate of 24.2% (95% CI: 23.1%-25.3%, I2 = 95.2%). Multivariate meta-regression analysis found no moderating effects of study sub-region, study year, and sample size on fall prevalence (p values > 0.05). Falls among older adults living in Africa are common and therefore need continuous research to examine the possible risk factors associated with falls among older adults and to establish effective policies and prevention approaches to reduce risk.