View clinical trials related to Fall.
Filter by:Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause severe problems with the blood, nerves, brain and psychological well-being. Ironically, our modern methods for the control of diabetes mellitus can actually contribute to vitamin B12 deficiency. This is because the diabetic medication "metformin", low-cholesterol diets lacking in meats (a natural source of vitamin B12) and the use of powerful anti-gastric medication can all reduce the natural absorption of vitamin B12 from the diet, especially in elderly people with diabetes. There is both a high prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiencies and falls among the elderly with type 2 diabetes mellitus and the investigators hypothesize that B12 deficiency contributes directly and significantly to falls in elderly diabetics through impaired muscle strength, gait and balance. This study therefore proposes to investigate the association between vitamin B12 deficiency and fall risk among diabetic elderly patients (older than 65 years) in the polyclinic setting by assessing muscle strength, balance and walking speed. The predictors of vitamin B12, folate, homocysteine and vitamin D levels will also be explored in this study. If the hypothesis is right, this would be of public health importance & can lead to further studies that can change the way we treat diabetes by reducing falls in our elderly diabetics through the screening for, prevention and treatment of B12 deficiency.
Music therapy has long been used to improve communication, health and quality of life. Music is also known to regulate pain, mood and anxiety levels. In the geriatric population, music listening has been shown to decrease depressive symptoms and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as agitation and anxiety. As a result, the use of music is recommended by national guidelines to control the behavioural symptoms of patients in long-term care facilities. Despite the demonstrated positive benefits of music for health and behavioural outcomes, very few studies using music have been performed in the hospital environment and even fewer on short-stay geriatric units. Older adults are the fastest-growing group of patients admitted to hospital, and the age-related burden of non-fatal health outcomes is one of the main challenges faced by hospitals. One of those age-related burdens is related to falls. Falls are highly frequent in geriatric patients, particularly on short-stay geriatric units, with a prevalence of up to 30 %. Falls are associated with increased length of hospital stay, high health-care costs and negative non-fatal health outcomes including multi-morbidities and related disabilities. Previous research has shown that music may decrease the risk of falls. For example, it was shown that the rhythm of music, combined with physical exercise, can improve measures of gait stability. In older community dwellers, music-based programs have demonstrated that improvement of gait stability decreased the risk of falls. We therefore hypothesized that music listening may decrease the risk of falls of geriatric patients admitted to a short stay unit. This study aimed to examine the influence of music listening on the risk of falls in patients admitted to a Geriatric Assessment Unit (GAU) by comparing the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) score for patients who attended music listening sessions and in control patients who did not attend these music sessions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the effect of music listening on the risk of falls in a geriatric unit.
The aging population is at an exceptionally high risk of debilitating falls, contributing significantly to reduced independence and quality of life. It remains extremely challenging to screen for falls risk, and programs designed to mitigate falls risk have only modestly influenced the sizeable portion of the aging population experiencing one or more falls annually. Balance control in standing and walking depends on integrating reliable sensory feedback and on planning and executing appropriate motor responses. Walking balance control is especially dynamic, requiring active and coordinated adjustments in posture (i.e., trunk stabilization) and foot placement from step to step. Accordingly, using a custom, immersive virtual environment, the investigators have shown that sensory (i.e., optical flow) perturbations, especially when applied during walking, elicit strong and persistent motor responses to preserve balance. Exciting pilot data suggest that these motor responses are remarkably more prevalent in old age, presumably governed by an increased reliance on vision for balance control. Additional pilot data suggest that prolonged exposure to these perturbations may effectively condition successful balance control strategies. Founded on these recent discoveries, and leveraging the increase reliance on vision for balance control in old age, the investigators stand at the forefront of a potentially transformative new approach for more effectively identifying and mitigating age-related falls risk. The investigator's overarching hypothesis is that optical flow perturbations, particularly when applied during walking, can effectively identify balance deficits due to aging and falls history and can subsequently condition the neuromechanics of successful balance control via training.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of vestibular rehabilitation to improve the balance in older people and reduce the number of falls, comparing three arms with different vestibular rehabilitation strategies (dynamic posturography exercises, optokinetic stimuli and exercises at home) and a control group.
Today most fracture prevention measures targets the bone and osteoporosis. However, only about 20% of individuals with fractures have osteoporosis and at least 90% of all fractures are caused by a fall. Therefore, the present project builds on previous findings from our group identifying postural sway as an important risk factor for falls and aims to intervene against this risk factor in a randomized controlled trial targeting subjects at the highest risk for falls.
Wandsworth Integrated Falls and Bone Health Service (IF & BHS) provides an evidence-based falls prevention exercise programme, but yearly about 500 of 1800 patients decline participation or do not continue to exercise. Our study seeks to address this efficiency gap by developing a gardening programme as an alternative to traditional exercise. In a preparation period (4/17-5/17) we will explore the special needs of the target population through interviews and create an age appropriate gardening site at "Growhampton", a gardening project run by the University of Roehampton; from 5/17 to 9/17 a falls prevention gardening group will be implemented and evaluated.
GAPcare (Geriatric Acute & Post-acute Care Coordination Program for Fall Prevention) is an early stage investigation that surveys older adults who present to the Emergency Department for any illness to determine the feasibility of an Emergency Department (ED)-based multidisciplinary intervention for preventing recurrent falls in older adults. In this observational study, older adults will be approached during routine clinical care in the ED and asked about prior falls, prior experiences having falls treated in the inpatient and outpatient setting, and the investigators will solicit feedback on potential improvement to care in the ED setting for falls.
Hypothesis: 'Transport PLUS,' a low cost, easily generalizable intervention performed by Emergency Medical Technicians while transporting a patient home from the hospital, can improve transitions of care and improve patient safety following hospitalization as measured by decreased rates of falls and reduced rates of return to the hospital.
This study serves to test a previously evaluated falls prevention intervention recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, entitled the Study of Accidental Falls in the Elderly (SAFE) Health Behavior and Exercise Intervention, to evaluate if the intervention is accessible to older adults with low vision receiving services from the Southeastern Blind Rehabilitation Center (SBRC). This study also serves to pilot a version of the SAFE intervention that has been adapted to be accessible for individuals with low vision at SBRC.
Objective: To conduct a comparative efficacy and cost-effectiveness study of an evidence-based fall prevention program-Tai Ji Quan: Moving for Better Balance (TJQMBB).