Women ‘at greater risk of falling once they hit 40’, Irish study reveals
FALLS are not just a problem for the elderly, according to new research – which identified a sharp increase in the dangerous incidents after the age of 40.
And the experts at Trinity College Dublin found that women face a particularly steep rise in the danger of falling once they approach midlife.
Dr Geeske Peeters, Atlantic
‘Reduce the consequences’
Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at Trinity and lead author of the study, said: ‘Researchers and doctors have always assumed falls are a problem that only affects people above the age of 65.
‘This study shows that the prevalence of falls is already quite high from the age of 50. In fact, our research shows that there is a sharp increase in the prevalence of falls in women during midlife.’
She added that ‘this occurs at a time that we also see an increase in the prevalence of common risk factors for falls, such as balance problems, diabetes and arthritis’.
Middle age may be a critical life stage for interventions designed to prevent falls, according to the research, which drew on data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, as well as data from similar studies in Australia, Britain and the Netherlands.
The research incorporated the data from 19,207 men and women aged between 40 and 64 years.
The prevalence of women falling increases from the age of 40, it was found. Some 9% of women aged 40 to 44 have significant falls, rising to 19% for those aged 45 to 49, 21% in 50-to-54-year-olds, 27% in 55-to59-year-olds, and 30% in those aged 60 to 64.
The increase coincides with the onset of the menopause, decline in balance performance, and rise in the presence of vertigo and fainting, according to the study.
The authors also said recommended strategies for the prevention of falls in older adults are insufficiently effective. Exercise may reduce the rate of falls by up to 32%, and assessment and treatment of risk factors may cut the rate of falls by up to 24%, according to previous research.
However, hospital injury records show that the number of injuries from falls that require medical care continues to rise – and the costs incurred as a result of these falls in Ireland are projected to be more than €1billion by 2020.
Dr Peeters said: ‘Current prevention strategies basically wait until people have developed risk factors and then try to make them go away. It may be better and more effective to prevent the risk factors, or to detect them at an early stage to reduce their consequences, particularly falls.
She added that ‘we are now working with our research colleagues in the Netherlands, Australia and the UK to investigate whether there is scope to start prevention strategies before the age of 65 years’.