Multifactorial intervention fails to prevent falls

Multifactorial intervention after a fall is not effective at preventing falls in older people with cognitive impairment and dementia. Shaw and colleagues (p 73) conducted a randomised controlled trial in 274 people over 65 with cognitive impairment and dementia presenting to two accident and emergency departments after a fall. They found that an intervention comprising medical, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and cardiovascular components did not change the proportion of patients who had a fall during the following year. Number of falls, time to first fall, injury rates, and fall related admissions and mortality were similar to conventional care. Multifactorial interventions are effective in cognitively normal older people; more work is needed to optimise delivery of interventions to cognitively impaired patients and those with dementia.

(Credit: ANTONIA REEVE/SPL)

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Relevant Article

Multifactorial intervention after a fall in older people with cognitive impairment and dementia presenting to the accident and emergency department: randomised controlled trial

Fiona E Shaw, John Bond, David A Richardson, Pamela Dawson, I Nicholas Steen, Ian G McKeith, and Rose Anne Kenny
BMJ 2003 326: 73. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]