Project description:BACKGROUND:Falls in community-dwelling older people have been recognised as a significant public health issue in China given the rapidly growing aged population. Although there are several reviews documenting falls prevention programs for community-dwelling older adults, no systematic reviews of the scope and quality of falls prevention interventions in Mainland China exist. Therefore, the aim of this study was to systematically review falls prevention interventions for community-dwelling older people living in Mainland China. METHODS:We systematically reviewed literature from Chinese and English databases. All types of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies published from 1st January 1990 to 30th September 2019 were included. Observational studies and studies in care facilities and hospitals were excluded. Narrative synthesis was performed to summarise the key features of all included studies. Quality assessment was conducted using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool and ROBINS-I tool for randomised and non-randomised studies respectively. RESULTS:A total of 1020 studies were found, and 101 studies were included in the analysis. Overall, very few high quality studies were identified, and there was insufficient rigor to generate reliable evidence on the effectiveness of interventions or their scalability. Most interventions were multiple component interventions, and most studies focused on outcomes such as self-reported falls incidence or awareness of falls prevention. CONCLUSION:There is an opportunity to undertake an evaluation of a rigorously-designed, large-scale falls prevention program for community-dwelling older people in Mainland China. To help mitigate the rising burden of falls in Mainland China, recommendations for future falls prevention interventions have been made. These include: (1) target disadvantaged populations; (2) incorporate personalised interventions; and (3) investigate the effectiveness of those under-explored interventions, such as psychological, social environment, management of urinary incontinence, fluid or nutrition therapy and surgery. The study results will also potentially provide a useful evidence base for other low-and-middle income countries in a similar situation.
Project description:Despite world-wide emphasis on falls prevention, falls and their consequences remain a major health issue for older people, and their health care providers. Many systematic reviews have been undertaken to evaluate the impact of intervention programmes on falls reduction, however, relatively little research provides a voice for older people's own perceptions of such programmes. To readdress this imbalance the current research utilized a purposive sampling method to recruit a hard to reach group of older people who had received a post-fall health and social-care programme to investigate their experiences of the programme. Semi-structured interviews with eight housebound people aged over 65 who had fallen were undertaken, and data analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four themes were identified: losing independence; losing confidence; losing social identity; managing a changed self. Despite a tailored intervention programme minimal improvement in participants' psychological adjustment to falls was noted. Outcomes from this study are of interest to health and social-care staff who deliver falls prevention programmes. Staff need to enhance constructive adjustment to the older person's altered circumstances and ensure behaviours do not exacerbate their clients' loss of independence. This should assist older people's ability to positively manage their sense of self, allowing them to find continuing meaning in their daily lives.
Project description:Our study objective was to determine the effect of vision intervention and combinations of different intervention components on preventing falls and fall-related injuries among older people. Six electronic databases were searched to identify seven articles published before May, 2014. We conducted a systematic review of data from seven randomized controlled trails and identified eight regimens: vision intervention alone (V), vision plus exercise (referred to as physical exercise) interventions (V?+?E), vision plus home hazard interventions (V?+?HH), vision plus exercise plus home hazard interventions (V?+?E?+?HH), vision plus exercise plus sensation interventions (V?+?E?+?S), vision plus hearing interventions (V?+?H), vision plus various risk factor assessment and interventions (V?+?VRF), and the control group (C, no intervention group). The main outcome was the incidence of falls during the follow-up period. Seven papers included 2723 participants. Network meta-analysis of seven trials, using pairwise comparisons between each intervention, indicated there was no significant difference. However, there was a trend in which intervention incorporating V?+?VRF had more advantages than any other combination of interventions. In conclusion, V?+?VRF proves to be more effective than other V combination interventions in preventing falls in older people (?65 years of age). V alone appears less effective in our network meta-analysis.
Project description:BackgroundClinical studies indicate that strength-balance training for active fall prevention can prevent fractures in older people. The present modelling study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of fall prevention exercise (FPE) provided to independently living older people compared to no intervention in Germany.MethodWe designed a Markov model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a group-based FPE-program provided to independently living people ≥75 years from the perspective of the German statutory health insurance (SHI). Input data was obtained from public databases, clinical trials and official statistics. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was presented as costs per avoided hip fracture. Additionally, we performed deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses and, estimated monetary consequences for the SHI in a budget impact analysis (BIA).ResultsFor women, the costs per hip fracture avoided amounted to €52,864 (men: €169,805). Results of deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the results. According to the BIA, for the reimbursement of FPE additional costs of €3.0 million (women) and €7.8 million (men) are expected for the SHI.ConclusionsGroup-based FPE appears to be no cost-effective option to prevent fall-related hip fractures in independently living elderly. To allow a more comprehensive statement on the cost effectiveness of FPE fracture types other than hip should be increasingly evaluated in clinical trials.
Project description:ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of multifactorial assessment and intervention programmes to prevent falls and injuries among older adults recruited to trials in primary care, community, or emergency care settings.DesignSystematic review of randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials, and meta-analysis.Data sourcesSix electronic databases (Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Social Science Citation Index) to 22 March 2007, reference lists of included studies, and previous reviews.Review methodsEligible studies were randomised or quasi-randomised trials that evaluated interventions to prevent falls that were based in emergency departments, primary care, or the community that assessed multiple risk factors for falling and provided or arranged for treatments to address these risk factors.Data extractionOutcomes were number of fallers, fall related injuries, fall rate, death, admission to hospital, contacts with health services, move to institutional care, physical activity, and quality of life. Methodological quality assessment included allocation concealment, blinding, losses and exclusions, intention to treat analysis, and reliability of outcome measurement.Results19 studies, of variable methodological quality, were included. The combined risk ratio for the number of fallers during follow-up among 18 trials was 0.91 (95% confidence interval 0.82 to 1.02) and for fall related injuries (eight trials) was 0.90 (0.68 to 1.20). No differences were found in admissions to hospital, emergency department attendance, death, or move to institutional care. Subgroup analyses found no evidence of different effects between interventions in different locations, populations selected for high risk of falls or unselected, and multidisciplinary teams including a doctor, but interventions that actively provide treatments may be more effective than those that provide only knowledge and referral.ConclusionsEvidence that multifactorial fall prevention programmes in primary care, community, or emergency care settings are effective in reducing the number of fallers or fall related injuries is limited. Data were insufficient to assess fall and injury rates.
Project description:BackgroundPhysical and cognitive impairments are important risk factors for falls in older people. However, no studies have been adequately powered to examine whether cognitive or cognitive-motor training can prevent falls in older people. This is despite good evidence of improvements in fall-related cognitive and physical functions following both intervention types. This manuscript describes the study protocol for a three-arm randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of home-based cognitive and cognitive-motor training interventions, compared to a minimal-intervention control group, in preventing falls in older people. This trial was prospectively registered with the Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry, number ACTRN12616001325493.Methods and analysisCommunity-dwelling adults aged 65 years and over, residing in Sydney Australia, will be recruited. Participants (n=750) will be randomly allocated to (1) cognitive-only training, (2) cognitive-motor training or (3) control groups. Both training interventions involve the use of the smart±step home-based computerised game playing system for a recommended 120 min/week for 12 months. Cognitive training group participants will use a desktop electronic touch pad to play games with the smart±step system while seated and using both hands. The cognitive-motor training group participants will use a wireless electronic floor step mat that requires accurate stepping using both legs for playing the same smart±step games, hence incorporating balance exercises. All groups will receive an education booklet on fall prevention. The primary outcome will be rate of falls, reported by monthly diaries during the 12-month duration of the study and analysis will be by intention-to-treat. Secondary outcomes include the proportion of fallers, physical and cognitive performance in 300 participants, and brain structure and function in 105 participants who will undertake MRI scans at baseline and 6 months. Cost-effectiveness will be determined using intervention and health service costs.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was obtained from UNSW Ethics Committee in September 2015 (ref number HC15203). Outcomes will be disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at international conferences.Trial registration numberACTRN12616001325493.
Project description:Limited attention has been paid in the literature to multiple component fall prevention interventions that comprise two or more fixed combinations of fall prevention interventions that are not individually tailored following a risk assessment. The study objective was to determine the effect of multiple component interventions on fall rates, number of fallers and fall-related injuries among older people and to establish effect sizes of particular intervention combinations.Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Cochrane, AMED, UK Clinical Research Network Study Portfolio, Current Controlled Trials register and Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials register were systematically searched to August 2013 for randomised controlled trials targeting those aged 60 years and older with any medical condition or in any setting that compared multiple component interventions with no intervention, placebo or usual clinical care on the outcomes reported falls, number that fall or fall-related injuries. Included studies were appraised using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Estimates of fall rate ratio and risk ratio were pooled across studies using random effects meta-analysis. Data synthesis took place in 2013.Eighteen papers reporting 17 trials were included (5034 participants). There was a reduction in the number of people that fell (pooled risk ratio = 0.85, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.80 to 0.91) and the fall rate (pooled rate ratio = 0.80, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.89) in favour of multiple component interventions when compared with controls. There was a small amount of statistical heterogeneity (I(2) =20%) across studies for fall rate and no heterogeneity across studies examining number of people that fell.This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials found evidence that multiple component interventions that are not tailored to individually assessed risk factors are effective at reducing both the number of people that fall and the fall rate. This approach should be considered as a service delivery option.