Awareness of Risk Factors for Fall among the Elderly Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

A BSTRACT Introduction: Aging is a complex process involving physiological, morphological, biochemical, and psychological changes. In India, the elderly face health challenges, including falls, which are a major problem. The prevalence of falls among older individuals ranges from 26% to 37%, with a pooled prevalence of approximately 31%. Falls significantly affect physical, psychological, and socioeconomic health. The World Health Organization emphasizes the importance of knowledge and abilities for proactive fall prevention, risk factor identification, and self-monitoring. While extensive research has been conducted on risk factors for falls in older populations, there is a lack of information on awareness among the elderly population in India. Method: It was a cross-sectional study in which a purposive sampling technique was used to collect data. The study included 80 senior citizens in the 60–85 years age group with equal distribution of 50% male participants and 50% female participants. After taking their consent, the elderly were interviewed in person using a self-constructed, validated questionnaire. People with cognitive impairment, people from the medical profession, and people who have a history of falls were excluded from this study. Results: Results were drawn using descriptive analysis. The mean score of awareness was highest for environmental risk factors (89.29%), followed by behavioral risk (84.79%) and biological risk factors (65.52%), and lowest for socioeconomic risk factors (50.33%). Conclusion: The study concluded that elderly individuals have varying awareness levels for biological, environmental, behavioral, and socioeconomic risk factors. The most significant factors where awareness was lacking included hearing loss, incontinence, dementia, medications, and low-income jobs. These findings are crucial for developing targeted interventions to improve awareness and prevent falls among older adults.