107 Falls among Middle-Aged Community Dwelling Women in a Rural Territory of Sri Lanka

Fall among middle-aged women is an understudied area worldwide including Sri Lanka. This study evaluated the prevalence and associated clinical risk factors of falls among middle-aged community dwelling women in a rural area of Southern Sri Lanka. A community based cross-sectional study was carried out with the participation of randomly selected 285 middle-aged women (age range; 40-60 years) in Galle district, Sri Lanka. History of non-accidental falls within the previous 12 months was inquired and those who reported two or more falls were considered as recurrent fallers. Clinical factors including age, menopausal status, weight (kg), height (m), waist-circumference (WC, cm), appendicular-skeletal-muscle-mass (ASMM, kg by DEXA), hand-grip-strength (HGS, kg) and gait-speed (GS, m/s) were evaluated. Body-mass-index (BMI, kg/m²) and relative ASMM index (RSMI, kg/m²) were calculated. Chi-square test and Multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed. The risk was expressed as adjusted Odds Ratios (OR). The Mean±SD age of participants was 51.7±6.1years. The prevalence of recurrent falls was 13% (95%CI; 9.4%-17.5%) (n=37). Number of women according to number of falls were; two falls (n=25, 8.8%), three falls (n=6, 2.1%), four falls (n=4, 1.4%) and five falls (n=2, 0.7%). The recurrent falls were higher among postmenopausal women (p<0.001) compared to premenopausal women, advanced age (51-60years) (p<0.001) compared to young age (40-50years), low RSMI (p=0.002) compared to normal RSMI, low HGS (p<0.001) compared to normal HGS and low GS (p=0.001) compared to normal GS. BMI and WC did not show significant associations with recurrent falls. Clinical risk factors associated with recurrent falls were age (OR; 7.41, 95%CI; 1.23-44.43, p=0.02), RSMI (OR; 3.21, 95%CI; 1.00-10.32, p=0.04) and HGS (OR; 3.19, 95%CI; 1.26-8.09, p=0.01). The prevalence of falls among middle-aged women was considerably high. Falls were associated with advanced age, low muscle mass and muscle strength.