Older People Living Alone: A Predictive Model of Fall Risk

Lage, Isabel; Braga, Fátima; Almendra, Manuela; Meneses, Filipe; Teixeira, Laetitia; Araújo, Odete

doi:10.3390/ijerph20136284

Open AccessArticle

Older People Living Alone: A Predictive Model of Fall Risk

by

Isabel Lage

¹,

Fátima Braga

^1,2,

Manuela Almendra

^1,2,

Filipe Meneses

^3,4,5,

Laetitia Teixeira

^6,7 and

Odete Araújo

^1,2,8,*

¹

School of Nursing, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

²

Nursing Research Centre, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

³

School of Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

⁴

Centro de Computação Gráfica, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal

⁵

Algoritmi Research Centre, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

⁶

ICBAS, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal

⁷

CINTESIS@RISE, ICBAS, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal

⁸

Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA:E), Nursing School of Coimbra (ESEnfC), 3045-043 Coimbra, Portugal

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(13), 6284; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20136284

Submission received: 3 April 2023 / Revised: 21 June 2023 / Accepted: 26 June 2023 / Published: 3 July 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Primary Care and Geriatric Nursing)

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Abstract

Falls in older people are a result of a combination of multiple risk factors. There are few studies involving predictive models in a community context. The aim of this study was to determine the validation of a new model for predicting fall risk in older adults (65+) living alone in community dwellings (n = 186; n = 117) with a test–retest reliability study. We consider in the predictive model the significant factors emerged from the bivariate analysis: age, zone, social community resources, physical exercise, self-perception of health, difficulty to keep standing, difficulty to sit and get up from a chair, strain to see, use of technical devices, hypertension and number of medications. The final model explained 28.5% of the risk of falling in older adults living alone in community dwellings. The AUC = 0.660 (se = 0.065, IC 95% 0.533–0.787, p = 0.017). The predictive model developed revealed a satisfactory discriminatory performance of the model and can contribute to clinical practice, with respect to the evaluation of risk of falling in this frailty group and preventing falls.

Keywords: older people; living alone; falls prediction; risk of falling; nursing

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MDPI and ACS Style

Lage, I.; Braga, F.; Almendra, M.; Meneses, F.; Teixeira, L.; Araújo, O. Older People Living Alone: A Predictive Model of Fall Risk. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 6284. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20136284

AMA Style

Lage I, Braga F, Almendra M, Meneses F, Teixeira L, Araújo O. Older People Living Alone: A Predictive Model of Fall Risk. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(13):6284. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20136284

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lage, Isabel, Fátima Braga, Manuela Almendra, Filipe Meneses, Laetitia Teixeira, and Odete Araújo. 2023. "Older People Living Alone: A Predictive Model of Fall Risk" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20, no. 13: 6284. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20136284

APA Style

Lage, I., Braga, F., Almendra, M., Meneses, F., Teixeira, L., & Araújo, O. (2023). Older People Living Alone: A Predictive Model of Fall Risk. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(13), 6284. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20136284

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Older People Living Alone: A Predictive Model of Fall Risk

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