Falls are a serious health problem in older adults. A limited number of studies assessed their multifactorial nature in geriatric ward patients. The aim of this study is to explore health, functional and nutritional correlates of experiencing fall(s) in the previous year by older inpatients. A cross-sectional study of patients admitted to the department of geriatrics was conducted. A “faller status” was defined based on positive history of falls in the previous 12 months. Health, functional and nutritional factors associated with falls were evaluated, and multivariable logistic regression analysis models were built. A total of 358 patients (median age 82 (IQR 76–86) years, 77.9% women) were recruited, 43.9% of whom reported falls. The “fallers” presented with a significantly higher number of chronic diseases, higher prevalence of Parkinson’s disease, peripheral arterial disease, chronic osteoarthritis, more frequently reported urinary incontinence and were dependent on others for daily living activities. They had significantly worse results for the assessment of gait, balance and frailty status. The Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form scores and the mean value of serum albumin were significantly lower in the fallers’ group. Parkinson’s disease (OR = 2.82, CI—1.07–7.45; p = 0.04) and osteoarthritis (OR = 2.08, CI—1.02–4.23; p = 0.04) were the main variables for the outcome prediction, according to the direct multivariable logistic regression analysis. Our findings suggest that Parkinson’s disease and osteoarthritis are the main predictors independently associated with a history of falls in patients admitted to the geriatric ward, although the influence of some factors may be underestimated due to the tendency of not taking the history of falls in very frail, functionally dependent and bedridden individuals.

中文翻译：

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去年经历的跌倒的健康，功能和营养决定因素-老年病房的跨部门研究。

跌倒是老年人的严重健康问题。有限的研究评估了老年病房患者的多因素性。这项研究的目的是探讨老年患者在上一年经历跌倒的健康，功能和营养相关性。对入院的老年患者进行了横断面研究。根据过去12个月跌倒的积极历史定义了“跌倒状态”。评估与跌倒相关的健康，功能和营养因素，并建立多变量logistic回归分析模型。总共招募了358名患者（中位年龄82（IQR 76-86）岁，女性77.9％），其中43.9％的患者跌倒。“堕落者”的慢性病数量明显增加，帕金森氏病，外周动脉疾病，慢性骨关节炎的患病率较高，据报道尿失禁更为频繁，并且在日常生活中还依赖于其他人。他们的步态，平衡和虚弱状态评估结果明显较差。跌倒者组的迷你营养评估-简表得分和血清白蛋白平均值均显着降低。帕金森氏病（OR = 2.82，CI-1.07–7.45；根据直接多变量logistic回归分析，p = 0.04）和骨关节炎（OR = 2.08，CI-1.02-4.23；p = 0.04）是结果预测的主要变量。我们的发现表明，帕金森病和骨关节炎是老年病房患者跌倒史的独立预测因素，尽管由于某些因素的影响而导致身体衰弱的趋势可能被低估了，功能依赖且卧床不起的个人。