Detecting age by gender subgroups at high risk of falls injuries when comparing two measures: Falls injury Incidence and FARE (Falls risk by Exposure).

Etman, A. (Astrid) (2010) Detecting age by gender subgroups at high risk of falls injuries when comparing two measures: Falls injury Incidence and FARE (Falls risk by Exposure). thesis, Human Movement Sciences.

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Abstract

Since falling may have serious consequences, it is important to detect groups of older people at high risk of falls in order to prevent them from falling. Generally, falls risk is expressed as falls incidence (i.e. the number of falls or fallers per 100 person-years). However, this risk measure assumes that the exposure to hazards is equal for all people. The FARE (Falls risk by Exposure) is a new way of expressing falls risk which takes into account the tendency of older people to avoid hazards by reducing physical activity (i.e. exposure) due to fear of falling. This expression incorporates physical activity and is calculated as the number of fallers per 1 000 physically active person-days (2: 30 minutes of physical activity at a moderate level). The objective of this study was to investigate whether falls injury incidence and the FARE differ in their power to detect age by gender subgroups at risk of falls injuries. Data of 21,020 community dwelling older people aged 2: 55 years (60.3% women) obtained from a national survey were used to compare both measures. Falls injury incidence showed a linear relationship with age for both men and women, whereas the FARE showed an exponential relationship. The difference in expressions revealed that compared to the FARE, falls injury incidence underestimates the falls injury risk of older old people. This underestimation is stronger in women than in men. It is concluded that the FARE is more powerful to detect groups at risk of falls.

Item Type:	Thesis (Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Heuvelen, Dr. Marieke van
Supervisor name:	Wijlhuizen, Dr. Gert Jan and TNO Quality of Life, Leiden
Faculty:	Medical Sciences
Date Deposited:	25 Jun 2020 10:54
Last Modified:	25 Jun 2020 10:54
URI:	https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1448

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