Association among complaint of dizziness, fear of falling and prior occurrence of falls in elderly people

• Autor(a) principal: Duarte,Giesse Albeche
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Soldera,Cristina Loureiro Chaves
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Geriatrics, Gerontology and Aging (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://ggaging.com/details/143
• topic: Dizziness, accidental falls, aging.

<p><b>OBJECTIVES:</b> The objective of this research was to associate complaint of dizziness, fear of falling and occurrence of falls in elderly people.<br> <b>METHODS:</b> We evaluated 38 elderlies by applying an interview and a scale to measure fear of falling (FES-I-Brazil).<br> <b>RESULTS:</b> Of the 38 elderly interviewed, 68,4% reported complaint of dizziness, 97,4% showed fear of falling and 57,9% had suffered a fall after 60 years old. The mean age of the elderlies who fell was significantly higher than of those who didn't (p = 0.015). The elderly people who reported dizziness utilize significantly higher number of medicines than those who did not report dizziness (p = 0.030). The score on the FES-I-Brazil was statistically significant when associated with the number of falls (p = 0.003).<br> <b>CONCLUSIONS:</b> The study showed high prevalence of dizziness, fear of falling and occurrence of falls among elderly people evaluated and significant correlation between increasing age and the occurrence of falls, the dizziness complaints and the number of medications used and the FES-I-Brazil score and the number of falls.</p>