Elderly victims of falls seen by prehospital care: gender differences

Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia

William Campo Meschial¹  Dorotéia Fátima Pelissari De Paula Soares¹  Nelson Luiz Batista De Oliveira¹  Alice Milani Nespollo¹  Wesley Alexandre Da Silva¹  Fernando Luiz De Paula Santil¹ 

关键词: Aged;    Accidental falls;    Gender identity;    Emergency relief;    Epidemiology;    External causes;    Idoso;    Acidentes por quedas;    Identidade de gênero;    Socorro de urgência;    Epidemiologia;    Causas externas;   

DOI  :  10.1590/1415-790X201400010002ENG

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

OBJECTIVE:To identify elderly who are victims of falls, according to gender, who received care from prehospital services of Maringá, Paraná.METHODS:A cross-sectional exploratory study carried out with 1,444 elderly patients who suffered falls in Maringá in the period from 2006 to 2008. Data were gathered from prehospital care services, typed and processed using the Epi Info 6.04d(r). The χ² test was used to compare the falls in relation to gender (significance level = 0.05).RESULTS:The number of falls according to gender presented similar percentages, 51.0% for males and 49.0% for females. Significant differences between genders were observed regarding age (p < 0.001), presence of alcohol breath (p < 0.001), type of fall (p < 0.001), place of fall (p < 0.001), treatment at hospital (p = 0.023), number of injuries (p = 0.014), type of injury (p < 0.001) and injury location (p <0.001).CONCLUSION:These results show that falls happen differently among the elderly when considering gender. It highlights the importance of understanding these differences in detail and the circumstances in which the fall occurred, since this knowledge is key to plan preventive actions.

【 授权许可】

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