Fear of Falling and Related Factors in Older Adults in the City of Kashan in 2017

Abstract

Background: Fear of falling has been reported in various societies for different reasons and affects the quality of life of older adults. The present study was conducted to determine the level of fear of falling and related factors in older adults in the city of Kashan in 2017. Materials and Methods: In this cross‑sectional study, 414 older adults living in the city of Kashan, in 2017, were selected by cluster sampling. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire (including age, gender, number of children, having a caregiver, education, marital status, occupation, smoking, alcohol use, use of anxiolytic medication, history of diseases, ability to carry out daily tasks, history of fall, injury due to fall, osteoporosis, access to medical care, access to social supports, walking aids, living alone, income, housing, insurance, and insomnia), and Falls Efficacy Scale‑International (FES‑I), and then were analyzed using Chi‑square and logistic regression. Results: Fear of falling was low in 63.3% of the older adults, moderate in 22.7%, and intense in 4.3%. Fear of falling showed a significant relationship with age, having a caregiver, education, history of taking anxiolytic and hypnotic medications, history of psychosomatic diseases, ability to perform daily tasks, history of falling, injury caused by falling, use of walking aids, access to social support in case of emergency, and income. Multivariate analysis showed that fear of falling in older adults had a direct relationship with age of over 70 years (odds ratio [OR] = 3.24), history of use of anxiolytic and hypnotic medications (OR = 0.26), and illiteracy (OR = 0.37). Conclusion: The results showed that a high percentage of participants suffered fear of falling, of whom one‑third had moderate‑to‑severe fear. Age, use of anxiolytic medications, and illiteracy were effective in increasing the risk of fear of falling in older adults. Further studies and appropriate measures are required in this regard.