Falls among Older Patients with Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Cohort Study
2Pat Matthews Academic School of Nursing, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Israel
Background/Objective:
Few studies have attempted to identify the prevalence of falls after TKA and their risk factors in older patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence of falls in patients with TKA as well as sociodemographic and medical factors that increase the risk of falling in older patients.
Methods:
One-hundred-eighty-seven older patients aged 65 and older, who had undergone TKA, were retrospectively interviewed within a year from hospitalization.
Results:
Of the 187 patients who underwent TKA in the last year, 26.7% sustained a fall. The mean time after TKA was eight months. This study reveals that older patients with a higher number of comorbidities, a higher number of medications, and suffering from depression, are at a higher risk of falls following TKA.
Conclusion:
Further implementation of fall prevention strategies is needed in order to control falls following TKA in older patients with these characteristics.