Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 May 28;10(3):74.
doi: 10.3390/geriatrics10030074.

Predictors of Fall-Related Injuries in Fallers-A Study in Persons with Cognitive Impairment

Per G Farup  1   2 , Knut Hestad  1 , Knut Engedal  3   4
Affiliations

Predictors of Fall-Related Injuries in Fallers-A Study in Persons with Cognitive Impairment

Per G Farup et al. Geriatrics (Basel). .

Abstract

Background/objectives: Old age and cognitive impairment/dementia are risk factors for falling and fall-related injuries. We have, in a previous study in persons with cognitive impairment, shown that falls were associated with frailty, reduced physical fitness, and cognitive reduction. Falls were independent of the disorders causing the impaired functions. Because most falls are innocent, knowledge of predictors of fall-related injuries seems more clinically relevant than the predictors of falls. Predictors of falls and fall-related injuries are not necessarily identical. The aim of this follow-up study to our previous one in the same population was to explore predictors of fall-related injuries in fallers and compare these predictors with those of falls.

Methods: This study and our previous study used data from the "The Norwegian Registry of Persons Assessed for Cognitive Symptoms" (NorCog), a Norwegian research and quality registry with a biobank. The registry included consecutive home-dwelling persons referred to Norwegian specialist healthcare units for assessment of cognitive decline. This study included 3774 persons from our previous study who experienced falls last year and compared persons with and without a fall-related injury. A fall-related injury was defined as admittance to a hospital for the injury.

Results: The annual incidence of fall-related injuries in the fallers was 884/3774 (23.4%). Female sex, older age, lower BMI, in need of public health service and walking assistance, and low Hb and Ca were independent predictors of fall-related injuries, indicating reduced physical fitness and state of health and a high burden of comorbidity. Injuries were not associated with the degree of cognitive impairment or the dementia diagnosis.

Conclusions: In home-dwelling persons with impaired cognitive functions and falls, fall-related injuries were associated with reduced physical fitness and state of health. In contrast to predictors of falls, neither the degree of cognitive impairment nor the dementia diagnosis was associated with fall-related injuries. The difference is comprehensible. Persons with cognitive impairment or dementia might have reduced power of judgment and be inattentive, unconcerned and careless, which increases the fall incidence but not the risk of injury once falling. Prevention of fall-related injuries should focus on relieving comorbidities, improving physical fitness and general health rather than on cognitive improvement.

Keywords: cognitive impairment; dementia; fall-related injuries; falls.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Sturnieks D.L., Chan L.L., Cerda M.T.E., Arbona C.H., Pinilla B.H., Martinez P.S., Seng N.W., Smith N., Menant J.C., Lord S.R. Cognitive functioning and falls in older people: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch. Gerontol. Geriatr. 2024;128:105638. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2024.105638. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hollinghurst R., Williams N., Pedrick-Case R., North L., Long S., Fry R., Hollinghurst J. Annual risk of falls resulting in emergency department and hospital attendances for older people: An observational study of 781,081 individuals living in Wales (United Kingdom) including deprivation, frailty and dementia diagnoses between 2010 and 2020. Age Ageing. 2022;51:afac176. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afac176. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Masud T., Morris R.O. Epidemiology of falls. Age Ageing. 2001;30((Suppl. 4)):3–7. doi: 10.1093/ageing/30.suppl_4.3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allan L.M., Ballard C.G., Rowan E.N., Kenny R.A. Incidence and prediction of falls in dementia: A prospective study in older people. PLoS ONE. 2009;4:e5521. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005521. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vos T., Lim S.S., Abbafati C., Abbas K.M., Abbasi M., Abbasifard M., Abbasi-Kangevari M., Abbastabar H., Abd-Allah F., Abdelalim A., et al. Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet. 2020;396:1204–1222. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources