Internal factors associated with falls among older adults in Thailand

Abstract

Background: Falls are a major public health issue and one of the leading causes of morbidity among the older adults in many countries. A previous study found the prevalence of one or more falls is 18.7% and older females fell more often (21.5%) than their male counterparts (14.4%). Studies on falls are scarcely conducted in Thailand. Therefore, this study aims to identify the internal risk factors of falls among older adults in across Thailand.

Method: A survey across Thailand was conducted by the National Statistical Office in 2014. This data was obtained and a secondary data analysis study was carried out. From a total of

10,014,705 participants, data curation provided a complete sample size of 233,889 participants aged 60 years and above. The collected data were analyzed using percentages and chi-squared test and presented in the form tables.

Results: From the 233,889 participants, most were women (55.8%), aged 60-65 years (55.8%) and lived in Bangkok (31.9%). The majority of participants (68.3%) had normal overall health conditions. Most of the participants (80.2%) had their physical health check-up during a 12-month period prior to the interview date. Furthermore, most of the participants (86.34%) did not experience any falls during the 6-month period before the interview. However, health conditions such as vision, hearing, ability to dress themselves and use the bathroom were significant factors associated with falls (p-value < 0.05).

Conclusion: There are various internal factors of falls in older adults which should be addressed in order to help prevent falls and their associated consequences.