Falling Risks in Elderly Adults: a Prospective Cohort Study

Introduction: the prevalence of falls in adults aged 65 years or older living in the community is 30%, being the second cause of accidental fatal injury and the fifth cause of death. About 20 to 30% of falls result in injuries: 10% constitute serious injuries, from which 5% are fractures. As a result, older adults decrease their mobility, are afraid of falling depressed and socially isolated, increasing the risk of later falls, death and health costs. Falls and their consequences can be prevented, so knowing and assessing the demographic, medical, self-perceived and functional characteristics constitutes an important information for health professionals. Given the high rate (29.59%) of older adults treated at the Physical Therapy outpatient consult of the "Hospital Francisco Santojanni" and the relevance of falls in this population, it is convenient to take a behavior and start by knowing their risk characteristics. Objectives: to determine the incidence of falls of adults aged 65 years and older, seen in the Physical Therapy outpatient consult of the "Hospital Francisco Santojanni"; to describe the characteristics of these population and to identify the potential risk-of-falling factors. Subjects and Methods: observational, prospective, longitudinal cohort study. Demographic (age and sex), medical (history of falls, visual alterations, medication and walking aids), self-perceived (fear of falling and instability perception) and functional characteristics (Test of Timed up and Go, Dynamic Index of gait and balance tests) will be evaluated in those patients of 65 years or more who initiate physical treatment in the outpatient consult of the of the "Hospital Francisco Santojanni" "Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, from March 2017 to February 2018, with a follow-up of 6 months until August 2018, to verify the development of the fall event