Mazumder R, Murchison C, Bourdette D, Cameron M. Falls in People with Multiple Sclerosis Compared with Falls in Healthy Controls. PLoS One. 2014 Sep 25;9(9):e107620.
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.
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 log-rank tests were performed to compare the distributions of
survival without falling between PwMS and healthy controls.
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, pā=ā0.033) and the
time to recurrent falls (HR: 2.87, pā=ā0.0082) 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.
MSers fall and need to ensure good bone health people without MS often fall for different reasons. So no big shakes there then
Labels: falls