Application of a World Health Organization 10-minute screening tool in eastern Taiwan鈥擣alls and self-rated health status among community-dwelling elderly

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• 作者：Liang-Kai Huang^a ; Ying-Wei Wang^a ; ^b ; Chuan-Huei Chou^c ; Yu-Lun Liu^d ; Jyh-Gang Hsieh^a ; ^{jyhgang@gmail.com" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author}
• 关键词：Falls ; Geriatric screening ; Health screening ; Health services for the aged
• 刊名：Tzu Chi Medical Journal
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：September 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：27
• 期：3
• 页码：120-123
• 全文大小：198 K

文摘

Falling is a major health risk facing the elderly. The prevalence of falls is 20.5% among adults older than 65 years in Taiwan. Our study used a geriatric screening tool to identify elderly people at high risk of falls.

Materials and Methods

Our study used a 10-minute geriatric screening tool developed by the World Health Organization to survey geriatric health problems and evaluated its effectiveness in a population of elderly Taiwanese. There were 186 participants who were ≥ 65 years old. All participants were interviewed by trained volunteers using the screening tool.

Results

The prevalence of falls was 28.3%, depression 13.4%, and urinary incontinence 29.9% in the previous year. Health issues in the elderly associated with a history of falls included depression (p < 0.001), urinary incontinence in the previous year (p = 0.004), and urinary incontinence in the previous week (p = 0.007). Protective factors against falls included the ability to walk fast (p < 0.001), get to places out of walking distance (p < 0.001), and perform heavy work (p < 0.001). The logistic regression analysis revealed that depression was positively correlated with a history of falling (p = 0.023), whereas the ability to walk fast presented a negative correlation (p = 0.015).

Conclusion

The World Health Organization 10-minute screening tool can be rapidly and easily implemented in a primary care clinical setting. It can also improve the identification of elderly persons living in the community at high risk of falling.