Characteristics associated with recurrent falls among the elderly within aged-care wards in a tertiary hospital : the effect of cognitive impairment

In this study, we aimed to determine the factors associated with recurrent falls in aged-care inpatients at a tertiary hospital, with a focus on the cognitive domains of recurrent fallers. We retrospectively examined the characteristics of 70 aged-care inpatients who sustained ≥ 2 falls; 269 patients who sustained 1 fall; and 69 non-fallers during their hospital admission. We also analyzed the available Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores and sub-scores of 37 recurrent fallers, 163 single fallers, and 37 non-fallers. The independent risk factors for recurrent falls were a history of dementia, stroke, or atrial fibrillation; and patients’ hospital length of stay >5 weeks. Protective factors were the patients’ ability to speak English and a history of depression. Recurrent fallers had significantly lower MMSE scores than single fallers and non-fallers (17.3±6.7, 20.2±6.2, 24.0±5.1, respectively, p <0.01); and a larger proportion of recurrent fallers had MMSE <18 than in the other two groups (54.1%, 34.4% and 10.8%, respectively, p