Determinants of falls in the elderly seen in consultation at the National Orthopedic Appliance Center of Mali

Abstract

Introduction: Falls are a major public health problem in the elderly. The objective was to study the determining factors of falls in people aged 60 and over seen in consultation at the Centre National d’Appareillage Orthopédique du Mali (CNAOM) from April to June 2022. Materials and methods: We have conducted a cross-sectional study. The participants, 465 in number, were asked about a notion of falling during the previous year. Data were processed with Excel and SPSS version 21.0 software. Results: The results show that the sample was predominantly male 56.13%, with an average age of 68.96 ± 6.62 years. It was made up of 69% married, 63% illiterate, 19.10% in professional activity. More than half (61.1%) of falls occur at the patient's home with 43.23% injuries, 31.61% fractures and 28.39% post-traumatic syndrome. The following determining factors: hypertension (54.8%), dizziness (52.3%), insomnia (38.7%), stroke (37.4%), weakness in walking 37, 4%, diabetes (36.8%), nocturnal pollakiuria (29%) were more frequent in cases of falls and osteoarthritis (43.5%) the most frequent factor in people who did not of fall. Conclusion: This study showed that men were more concerned with falls and medical determinants such as high blood pressure, dizziness, insomnia, stroke, weakness in walking, diabetes, nocturnal pollakiuria (29% ) were more frequent.