Comorbidity increased the risk of falls in Chinese older adults: a cross-sectional study

Objective: Today, there are no state-level investigations on falls involving elderly individuals with comorbidity and risk factors associated with falls and multi-comorbidity by sex and age strata reported in China. Additionally, the relationship between comorbidity and falls remains unknown. We investigated the prevalence of falls in Chinese elderly with comorbidities and determined the risk factors. Methods: A total of 4419 elderly subjects (age(range) : 52-110 years old) were involved in the cross-sectional study, including 3081 with comorbidity and 1338 without comorbidity. In a face-to-face interview, we recorded the history of falls, demographic characteristics and information for 28 chronic diseases. Results: The prevalence of falls in patients with comorbidity was higher than that for patients without comorbidity (21.8% vs. 6.4%, P < 0.001). The risk of falls in the comorbidity group was higher than that in the group without comorbidity (OR=4.05, 95% CI: 3.20-4.87, P < 0.001). When patients were stratified by age (more than 75 years old and less than 75 years old), we showed that patients who experienced falls associated with aging were more susceptible to comorbidity (ORrange 3.51-4.68, P-range 0-0.0001). Conclusion: We observed that the prevalence of falls with comorbidity was 21.8% in the elderly. We showed that falls in the elderly are markedly related to comorbidity.