TY - JOUR
T1 - Falls in people with multiple sclerosis compared with falls in healthy controls
AU - Mazumder, Rajarshi
AU - Murchison, Charles
AU - Bourdette, Dennis
AU - Cameron, Michelle
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Mazumder et al.
Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/9/25
Y1 - 2014/9/25
N2 - Methods: 58 PwMS and 58 healthy controls, who are community-dwelling, were recruited in this 6-month prospective cohort study. 90% of PwMS and 84% of healthy controls completed the study. Participants counted falls prospectively using fall calendars and noted fall location, fall-related injuries, and the cause of the falls. Kaplan Meier survival analysis and logrank tests were performed to compare the distributions of survival without falling between PwMS and healthy controls.Objective: To compare the risk, circumstances, consequences and causes of prospectively recorded falls between people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and healthy controls of similar age and gender.Results:40.8% of controls and 71.2% of PwMS fell at least once. 48.1% of PwMS and 18.4% of healthy controls fell at least twice. 42.3% of PwMS and 20.4% of health controls sustained a fall-related injury. After adjusting for age and gender, the time to first fall (HR: 1.87, p = 0.033) and the time to recurrent falls (HR: 2.87, p = 0.0082) were significantly different between PwMS and healthy controls. PwMS reported an almost equal number of falls inside and outside, 86% of the falls in healthy controls were outside. Healthy controls were more likely to fall due to slipping on a slippery surface (39.5% vs 10.4%). PwMS more often attributed falls to distraction (31% vs 7%) and uniquely attributed falls to fatigue or heat.Conclusions: Fall risk, circumstances, consequences, and causes are different for PwMS than for healthy people of the same age and gender. PwMS fall more, are more likely to be injured by a fall, and often fall indoors. PwMS, but not healthy controls, frequently fall because they are distracted, fatigued or hot.
AB - Methods: 58 PwMS and 58 healthy controls, who are community-dwelling, were recruited in this 6-month prospective cohort study. 90% of PwMS and 84% of healthy controls completed the study. Participants counted falls prospectively using fall calendars and noted fall location, fall-related injuries, and the cause of the falls. Kaplan Meier survival analysis and logrank tests were performed to compare the distributions of survival without falling between PwMS and healthy controls.Objective: To compare the risk, circumstances, consequences and causes of prospectively recorded falls between people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and healthy controls of similar age and gender.Results:40.8% of controls and 71.2% of PwMS fell at least once. 48.1% of PwMS and 18.4% of healthy controls fell at least twice. 42.3% of PwMS and 20.4% of health controls sustained a fall-related injury. After adjusting for age and gender, the time to first fall (HR: 1.87, p = 0.033) and the time to recurrent falls (HR: 2.87, p = 0.0082) were significantly different between PwMS and healthy controls. PwMS reported an almost equal number of falls inside and outside, 86% of the falls in healthy controls were outside. Healthy controls were more likely to fall due to slipping on a slippery surface (39.5% vs 10.4%). PwMS more often attributed falls to distraction (31% vs 7%) and uniquely attributed falls to fatigue or heat.Conclusions: Fall risk, circumstances, consequences, and causes are different for PwMS than for healthy people of the same age and gender. PwMS fall more, are more likely to be injured by a fall, and often fall indoors. PwMS, but not healthy controls, frequently fall because they are distracted, fatigued or hot.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0107620
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0107620
M3 - Article
C2 - 25254633
AN - SCOPUS:84907572511
VL - 9
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 9
M1 - e107620
ER -