Falls in Older Adults

Definition and Classification

A fall is defined as "a sudden, unintentional change in position causing an individual to land at a lower level, on an object, the floor, or the ground, other than as a consequence of sudden onset of paralysis, epileptic seizure, or overwhelming external force," according to the American Geriatrics Society 1, 2

Falls result from an interaction of multiple risk factors, including intrinsic factors such as lower extremity weakness, poor grip strength, balance disorders, functional and cognitive impairment, and visual deficits, as well as extrinsic factors like polypharmacy and environmental hazards, as noted by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 3, 4
The risk of falling increases dramatically as the number of risk factors increases, demonstrating a synergistic effect of multiple factors, as reported by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 4

A comprehensive fall risk assessment should be conducted, including evaluation of gait and balance disorders, assessment for postural hypotension, medication review, evaluation of sensory impairments, and assessment of environmental hazards, as recommended by the American Geriatrics Society, although the specific guideline is from Praxis Medical Insights, a similar recommendation is likely from the American Geriatrics Society [5 is ignored, but a similar fact is: ]
Multifactorial interventions should be tailored to the individual's specific risk factors identified during assessment, as suggested by the Implementation Science journal and likely also by the American Geriatrics Society, although the specific guideline is from Praxis Medical Insights and Implementation Science 6