Abstract

REZENDE, Débora Aparecida Paccola de et al. Prevalence of falls in women after menopause. Rev. bras. crescimento desenvolv. hum. [online]. 2011, vol.21, n.1, pp.146-155. ISSN 0104-1282.

In cross-sectional it was estimated the prevalence of the falls and associated factors in women in postmenopause with age less than 65 years. With a random sample of 331 women, they were applied questionnaire self-reported about falls, socio-demographics, morbidity, medicine and life habits. We estimated the frequency and bivariate and multiple analysis with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The results showed a prevalence of the falls in the last six months of 21.3% (95% CI: 17.0-26.2%), that 58.8% had at least one fall. The falls occurred in the external environment and the main causes were stumble/slip (48.2%) and dizziness/vertigo (14.9%). The fall is associated mainly with the years of schooling (OR = 2.72; 95% CI: 1.28-5.77%), depression (OR = 2.24; 95% CI: 1.65-4.86) and obesity (OR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.01-1.11%). In conclusion, the prevalence of the falls was high to this population, showing the necessity of strategies of health promotion and early prevention with the community.

Keywords : epidemiology; postmenopause; accidental falls.

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