AI Article Synopsis

  • The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a low-intensity, population-based program designed to prevent falls among individuals over 60 years old, highlighting a lack of strong evidence to guide communities in fall prevention strategies.
  • The research took place in two regions of Australia, where interventions were compared before and after implementation, revealing that there was no significant reduction in overall falls-related injuries, despite some minor improvements in risk factors.
  • Ultimately, the findings suggest that more intensive falls prevention programs might be necessary for achieving better outcomes compared to low-intensity approaches.

Article Abstract

Background: There is a sound rationale for the population-based approach to falls injury prevention but there is currently insufficient evidence to advise governments and communities on how they can use population-based strategies to achieve desired reductions in the burden of falls-related injury. The aim of the study was to quantify the effectiveness of a streamlined (and thus potentially sustainable and cost-effective), population-based, multi-factorial falls injury prevention program for people over 60 years of age.

Methods: Population-based falls-prevention interventions were conducted at two geographically-defined and separate Australian sites: Wide Bay, Queensland, and Northern Rivers, NSW. Changes in the prevalence of key risk factors and changes in rates of injury outcomes within each community were compared before and after program implementation and changes in rates of injury outcomes in each community were also compared with the rates in their respective States.

Results: The interventions in neither community substantially decreased the rate of falls-related injury among people aged 60 years or older, although there was some evidence of reductions in occurrence of multiple falls reported by women. In addition, there was some indication of improvements in fall-related risk factors, but the magnitudes were generally modest.

Conclusions: The evidence suggests that low intensity population-based falls prevention programs may not be as effective as those that are intensively implemented.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2836986PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-79DOI Listing

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