View clinical trials related to Accidental Falls.
Filter by:Phase 1 of the study: Falls are the leading cause of preventable injury, long term disability, premature institutionalization and mortality in the older adult population. Promising preliminary research suggests that modifications to the home can potentially reduce the incidence of falls in the elderly. The purpose of this study is to gather data necessary to design a definitive trial of a home modification intervention for older adults at risk for fall. The specific aims are to 1) estimate the efficacy of an intensive tailored environmental intervention to reduce functional decline among community-dwelling older adults; 2) gather the data necessary to design a definitive clinical trial of an intensive tailored environmental intervention to reduce the cumulative incidence of falls among community-dwelling older adults; 3) examine the direct cost of intensive tailored home modification. A pilot randomized controlled trial will be conducted with 40 older adults who have experienced a fall resulting in an emergency room visit. Phase 2 of the study: Our long-term objective is to prevent falls for these older adults at high risk by removing hazards in their homes. Development of an effective intervention for fall reduction could have an immediate impact for this population and high public health significance. Intensive home hazard removal has been established as an effective environmental intervention for the prevention of falls; however, none of the published studies have been conducted in the US, and no study has adequately controlled for biases. The investigators propose a double-blinded, randomized sham-controlled clinical trial to determine the efficacy of an intensive tailored home hazard removal intervention to reduce the cumulative incidence of falls among 110 community-dwelling older adults who visit the emergency department (ED) because of a fall. This three year study will be the first to utilize a sham control group and a double-blind, randomized study design. The investigators will intervene with a high-risk group of community-dwelling older adults who visit an ED after a fall. The primary hypothesis will be tested by comparing the 12-month cumulative incidence of falls in an intensive tailored home intervention group with falls in a sham control group. Falls will be operationalized as unintentional movements to the floor, ground or object below knee level. The secondary hypothesis will be tested by comparing total number of falls, number of injurious falls, fear of falling and performance in daily activities between the intervention and sham control group. The primary aim of the proposed study is to: 1. Compare the efficacy of an intensive tailored home hazard reduction intervention to sham treatment on the cumulative incidence of falls over 12 months for older adults who visit the ED after a fall. Hypothesis 1: The cumulative incidence of falls over 12 months will be lower for the intensive tailored home hazard removal group compared to the sham control group. The secondary aims of the proposed study are to: 2. Determine if intensive tailored home hazard reduction intervention is superior to sham treatment on secondary outcomes including: total number of falls, number of injurious falls, fear of falling and activities of daily living (ADL) performance. Hypothesis 2: The investigators hypothesize that the intensive tailored home hazard reduction intervention group will experience fewer total falls, fewer injurious falls, less fear of falling and improved ADL performance compared to the sham control group. 3. Characterize intensive tailored home hazard reduction interventions including the frequency of environmental modification by type and location in the home and its direct costs. The investigators will also conduct subgroup analysis of type, location and cost of home modifications by race and gender. The proposed study is innovative because it provides intensive, individualized prescriptions of home hazard removal and because it provides a quick response to a fall. It is also the first double-blind trial of the effect of environmental modification on falls and, to our knowledge, is the first collaboration between occupational therapy and emergency medicine on fall reduction strategies in the US. The results of the proposed study will provide new evidence about the effectiveness of intensive tailored home hazard removal to reduce falls. This study has the potential to provide public health guidelines for the delivery of home hazard removal, decrease the health care costs associated with falls and to provide evidence for guiding public health policy for older adults who have fallen.
Accidental falls result in major physical and psychological morbidity in the elderly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of lower-limb strength and flexibility program, which is analyzed under the control of other risk factors, on preventing falls and fall-related injuries in the community-dwelling elderly.
Falls in the elderly are a very common and serious health problem with devastating consequences. Those with dementia are 5 times more likely to experience falls than older people without significant cognitive impairment. Despite a growing awareness and the use of available treatments, the number of falls and fall related injuries continue to increase. It is important to develop more effective treatments to help reduce the number of falls and prevent injury. The assessments used in this study determine fall risk which predicts the likelihood of falls in the future. This study will evaluate the possible role of Methylphenidate, Ritalin, in preventing falls and improving symptoms of apathy, or indifference. Methylphenidate is FDA approved for the treatment of ADHD but is not currently approved by the FDA for preventing falls or improving apathy(lack of interest) in the elderly. The methylphenidate used in this study will be absorbed through the skin by wearing a small patch near the hip area. The specific primary aim of this open label study is to determine if use of transdermal Methylphenidate (t-MPH) causes a reduction in fall risk in patients with dementia. The hypotheses to be tested is that after receiving t-MPH for 4 weeks, subjects will show improvement in gait and mobility assessment scores when compared to gait and mobility scores at screening.
Background: Accidental falls result in major physical and psychological morbidity in the elderly, especially stroke patients. To get optimal prevention of stroke falls, it is crucial to identify independent risk factors from multivariate analysis of related balance and gait parameters. Aim: To evaluate the effects of balance and gait characteristics in determining whether or not accidental falls may happen. To investigate if the balance and gait parameters affect the time from lesion to when (and if) patients suffer from falls. To compare differences of balance and gait parameters in accidental fall patients between those with severe accidental injuries and those without severe injuries. Methods: The 2-year observational cohort study will enroll 706 elderly stroke patients, who have not had a previous stroke. They will be retrieved from the Inpatient department and followed-up regularly in the Outpatient department when they are discharged. All subjects will be evaluated at 1 month and 6 months after stroke. These evaluations will include: mental, cognition and depression status; lower-limb muscle strength assessed by a dynamometer as well as range of motion of joints assessed by a biaxial electro-goniometry; functional independence measure; balance and gait pattern will be assessed by both clinical observation and objective laboratory examination (a dynamic posturography and computerized gait analysis system); falls and fall-related injuries during the proceeding year. Differences in baseline characteristics are tested by one-way ANOVA, Mann Whitney U or t tests, if appropriate. The investigators will identify the independent risk factors of accidental falls with logistic regression and use the log rank statistic of Kaplan-Meier survival curve to differentiate the risk of accidental falls or fall-related injuries in different groups.
Background: Falls are the leading cause of injury among older adults in Singapore, but falls among the elderly can be preventable and the risks are predictable. Translating this understanding of falls etiology into an integrated clinical and public health program that is accessible to the elderly is a critical health services delivery challenge. Hypothesis: An evidence-based program of screening, risk modification and physical therapy delivered in a community setting will reduce recurrent falls incidence among a high-risk group of elderly recently discharged to the community. Methodology: This randomized controlled trial targets patients seen at Emergency Department (ED) for a fall or fall-related injuries who are at least 65 years old and will be discharged to home. Upon signing the informed consent form, the participants will be followed up for nine months from the baseline assessment during which the participants are randomized into either a control or the intervention group. The participants in the intervention group will be provided with a multifactorial program of screening, risk modification and physical therapy focused on progressive strength, balance, and gait training either as an individualized program or a group setting in the community for the first three months from the date of randomization. The number of recurrent falls will be monitored via a falls prevention diary maintained by (or for) each participant.
The purpose of this study is to assess effects of a home exercise program, supervised by assistant nurses with the aim of preventing falls. Community living persons 65 years of age or older having a risk of falling were invited to participate. Participants were randomized to either training or control. The training program was individually designed by a physiotherapist and the 5-month program performance was supervised in the partcipants home by eight home visits from an assistant nurse. All participants received a visit from an occupational therapist who assessed the home and, if necessary, gave advice.
This study is a clinical trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifactorial falls prevention program in reducing the rate of falls. A multifactorial falls prevention program consisting of an individualized medical management of the modifiable risk factors, a progressive on-site body balance exercise plus a home-based exercise program, an educational/behavioral intervention and a fall prevention booklet will reduce the number of falls and fall rates when compared with usual care.
This study will evaluate the efficacy of novel compliant flooring in reducing injuries due to falls in a long-term care facility, determine the cost effectiveness of this intervention, and assess perceptions about compliant flooring among staff, residents, and families. The investigators hypothesize that compliant flooring will (1) reduce the incidence of injuries due to falls in long-term care residents; (2) represent an overall cost-savings when material and implementation costs are considered relative to direct and indirect costs associated with injuries due to falls; and (3) be received positively by staff, residents, and their family members.
Osteoporosis and falls occur with increasing frequency among the elderly. Osteoporosis and fall increases the risk of fracture. Falls in the elderly are associated with a high morbidity and mortality with potentially life-threatening consequences of falls including fractures. Besides fracture fall may cause long term problems such as disability fear of falling and loss of independence. Today osteoporosis is diagnosed by bone scan of the hip and spine. The investigators want to investigate whether other more accessible and less expensive testing methods can be used to diagnose osteoporosis. Additionally, the investigators will examine the incidence of osteoporosis among the elderly in the municipality of Odense. Finally, the investigators would like to investigate the association between factors that can lead to falls and to investigate the performance of older and whether there are changes in functional ability over time.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a group-based functional and specific balance training program on balance function in healthy older adults. It is commonly considered difficult to improve balance function in healthy older adults. The program included dual-task exercises; physical training exercises and a cognitive task (e.g. reading or reciting a story) performed simultaneously, as well as perturbation exercises, where balance is challenged in unexpected ways. The investigators hypothesized that following the proposed training, older adults would improve their speed of taking a step in both single and dual task conditions, refine their ability to control balance when standing still and improve their self-reported physical function.