| Discrepancy Between Quarterly Recall and Annual Recall of Falls: A Survey of Older Adults |
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Jinho Yoo, Sunyoung Kim, Woo Chul Park, Byung Sung Kim, Hyunrim Choi, Chang Won Won |
1Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea. chunwon62@naver.com
2Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea. |
Correspondence:
Chang Won Won, Tel: +82-2-958-8691, Fax: +82-2-958-8699,
Email: chunwon62@naver.com
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| Abstract |
BACKGROUND
Accurate measurement of the frequency of falls is challenging because falls can only be self-reported. We hypothesized that quarterly surveys over a year would be superior to a 1-time annual survey for older adults to recall the number of falls they experienced more accurately.
METHODS
We recruited 317 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older at a senior welfare center in Seoul, Korea. Older adults without cognitive deficit were included for follow-up. All eligible participants were surveyed via telephone every 3 months over 1-year period by trained investigators and asked to recall their total number of falls over the last 1 year at the end of the study.
RESULTS
Two hundred forty-seven participants completed all follow-ups, and 58 of them reported at least 1 fall per year. Twenty-nine participants recalled the same number of falls in 4 quarterly surveys and 1-year survey and the other 29 participants recalled differently. Participants who fell more than once (16, 55.2%) had a higher recall discrepancy than those who fell only once (11, 37.9%) according to the sum of quarterly surveys. Among 58 fallers, 56 reported falling in quarterly surveys, and 47 reported falling in the 1-year survey, indicating an approximately 19% reduction in the rate of recallin the 1-year survey.
CONCLUSION
Repeated surveys with a shorter recall period of 3 months or less may yield a more accurate measurement of falls than a survey with a recall period of 1 year. |
| Key Words:
Accidental falls, Mental recall, Frail elderly, Surveys and questionnaires |
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