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Consumer Products and Fall-related Injuries in Seniors

  • Quantitative Research
  • Published:
Canadian Journal of Public Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To conduct an environmental scan to identify the scope of literature on consumer products and injuries in seniors and to fill in some of the information gaps by exploring the relationship between assistive devices (AD) and fall-related injuries.

Methods

The environmental scan included primary literature identified in Medline and EMBASE databases and grey literature was identified in Google and consumer product safety sites in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.

Methods

Weighted logistic regression was then used to examine the relationship between socio-demographic factors, frailty indicators, and AD use at the time of the fall, and the type of health services utilized and psychological consequences of the fall based on data from the 2008–2009 Canadian Community Health Survey on Healthy Aging.

Results

The majority of the articles on consumer products and injuries reported secondary database sources and did not directly link the consumer product’s influence on a given injury. We found AD use at the time of a fall was associated with hospitalization, worry about re-injury, and limiting one’s activities due to this worry, even after adjustment for socio-demographic variables. When frailty variables were included in the model, however, AD use was no longer statistically significant.

Conclusion

This study provides preliminary information on the relationship between AD use and fall-related outcomes. However, the current data are not sufficient to draw specific conclusions. More detailed questions regarding AD use for the entire population and additional questions regarding the contribution of the AD to the injury will help to provide a richer understanding of this relationship.

Résumé

Objectif

Procéder à une analyse de l’environnement pour définir la portée de la documentation sur les produits de consommation et les blessures chez les personnes âgées et pour combler certaines données manquantes en explorant la relation entre les accessoires fonctionnels (AF) et les blessures liées aux chutes.

Méthode

L’analyse de l’environnement a inclus la documentation de base, répertoriée dans les bases de données Medline et EMBASE, et la littérature grise trouvée dans Google et sur les sites de sécurité des produits de consommation des États-Unis, du Canada, du Royaume-Uni et de l’Australie.

Méthode

Nous avons ensuite procédé à une analyse de régression logistique pondérée pour examiner la relation entre les facteurs sociodémographiques, les indicateurs de fragilité et l’utilisation d’AF au moment de la chute, d’une part, et le type de services de santé utilisés et les conséquences psychologiques de la chute, d’autre part, selon les données sur le vieillissement en santé dans l’Enquête sur la santé dans les collectivités canadiennes 2008–2009.

Résultats

La majorité des articles publiés sur les produits de consommation et les blessures citent des sources de données secondaires et ne font pas de lien direct entre les produits de consommation et tel ou tel type de blessure. Nous avons constaté que l’utilisation d’un AF au moment de la chute était associée à l’hospitalisation, à la crainte de se blesser à nouveau et à la restriction des activités en raison de cette crainte, même compte tenu des variables sociodémographiques. Quand nous avons inclus les variables de fragilité dans le modèle cependant, l’utilisation d’un AF n’était plus un facteur significatif.

Conclusion

Notre étude donne des informations préliminaires sur la relation entre l’utilisation d’AF et les résultats sanitaires après une chute. Les données actuelles sont toutefois insuffisantes pour tirer des conclusions précises. Des questions plus détaillées sur l’utilisation des AF, à l’échelle de la population, et des questions supplémentaires sur le rôle des AF dans les blessures nous aideront à mieux comprendre la nature de cette relation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, MIP-309A, McMaster University, 175 Longwood Rd S., Hamilton, ON, L8P 0A1, Canada

    Lauren E. Griffith PhD, Nazmul Sohel PhD, Kathryn Walker MSc PT & Parminder S. Raina PhD

  2. Centre for Chronic Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Ying Jiang MD, MSc, Yang Mao PhD & Doug Hopkins

Authors
  1. Lauren E. Griffith PhD
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  2. Nazmul Sohel PhD
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  3. Kathryn Walker MSc PT
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  4. Ying Jiang MD, MSc
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  5. Yang Mao PhD
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  6. Doug Hopkins
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  7. Parminder S. Raina PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Parminder S. Raina PhD.

Additional information

Acknowledgements: The Canadian Community Health Survey - Healthy Aging survey content was developed by the Health Statistics Division at Statistics Canada in consultation with Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and experts conducting the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Consultations included stakeholders from Human Resources and Social Development Canada and provincial and territorial health ministries. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) provided funding for the CLSA; and the CLSA - Mobility Initiative - An Emerging Team in Mobility and Aging, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), provided infrastructure support for the CLSA. Funding for this study was provided by PHAC.

Conflict of Interest: None to declare.

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Griffith, L.E., Sohel, N., Walker, K. et al. Consumer Products and Fall-related Injuries in Seniors. Can J Public Health 103, e332–e337 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404436

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