An individually-tailored multifactorial intervention program for older fallers in a middle-income developing country: Malaysian Falls Assessment and Intervention Trial (MyFAIT)

BMC Geriatrics

Study Protocol

Pey June Tan¹  Maw Pin Tan²  Phillip JH Poi²  Ee Ming Khoo³  Karuthan Chinna⁴  Keith D Hill⁵ 

[1] Ageing and Age-Associated Disorders Research Group, Health and Translational Medicine Cluster, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;Ageing and Age-Associated Disorders Research Group, Health and Translational Medicine Cluster, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;Department of Primary Care Medicine, University of Malaya Primary Care Research Group (UMPCRG), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia;Health Promotion Division, National Ageing Research Institute, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia;

关键词: Accidental falls;    Aged;    Asians;    Randomized controlled trial;    Fear of falling;    Quality of life;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2318-14-78

 received in 2014-03-24, accepted in 2014-06-06,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn line with a rapidly ageing global population, the rise in the frequency of falls will lead to increased healthcare and social care costs. This study will be one of the few randomized controlled trials evaluating a multifaceted falls intervention in a low-middle income, culturally-diverse older Asian community. The primary objective of our paper is to evaluate whether individually tailored multifactorial interventions will successfully reduce the number of falls among older adults.MethodsThree hundred community-dwelling older Malaysian adults with a history of (i) two or more falls, or (ii) one injurious fall in the past 12 months will be recruited. Baseline assessment will include cardiovascular, frailty, fracture risk, psychological factors, gait and balance, activities of daily living and visual assessments. Fallers will be randomized into 2 groups: to receive tailored multifactorial interventions (intervention group); or given lifestyle advice with continued conventional care (control group). Multifactorial interventions will target 6 specific risk factors. All participants will be re-assessed after 12 months. The primary outcome measure will be fall recurrence, measured with monthly falls diaries. Secondary outcomes include falls risk factors; and psychological measures including fear of falling, and quality of life.DiscussionPrevious studies evaluating multifactorial interventions in falls have reported variable outcomes. Given likely cultural, personal, lifestyle and health service differences in Asian countries, it is vital that individually-tailored multifaceted interventions are evaluated in an Asian population to determine applicability of these interventions in our setting. If successful, these approaches have the potential for widespread application in geriatric healthcare services, will reduce the projected escalation of falls and fall-related injuries, and improve the quality of life of our older community.Trial registrationISRCTN11674947

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Tan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014