Depression and risk for adverse falls in older home health care patients.

Because falls are highly prevalent, harmful events for older adults, identification of patients at risk is a high priority for home health care agencies. Using routine administrative data, we demonstrated that patients with depressive symptoms on the Outcome and Assessment Information Set are at risk for falls. A prospective case-control study that matched 54 patients who experienced an adverse fall with 854 controls showed that patients who fell had twice the odds of being depressed (odds ratio = 1.

Does depression predict falls among home health patients? Using a clinical-research partnership to improve the quality of geriatric care.

This study found that patients with depressed mood or anhedonia identified on the OASIS were nearly three times more likely to fall. The authors describe the ways these findings are being used in a fall prevention program. The clinical-research partnership used in the study was found to help agencies develop clinically driven research, analyze clinical and administrative data for quality improvement, and provide a foundation for research consultation/collaboration in applied settings.