| Autor: |
de Souza Moreira B; Graduate Program in Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Observatory for Urban Health in Belo Horizonte (OSUBH), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil., Cristina de Souza Andrade A; Department of Public Health, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil., Xavier CC; Faculty of Health and Human Ecology, Vespasiano, Brazil., Proietti FA; René Rachou Institute-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Belo Horizonte, Brazil., Braga LS; Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil., Friche AAL; Graduate Program in Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Observatory for Urban Health in Belo Horizonte (OSUBH), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil., Teixeira Caiaffa W; Graduate Program in Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Observatory for Urban Health in Belo Horizonte (OSUBH), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. |
| Abstrakt: |
Few studies have examined the neighborhood features related to falls in the older population in low-and-middle-income countries, including Brazil. This study aimed to evaluate if perceived neighborhood features are related to falls among older Brazilian adults living in a large urban area. This cross-sectional study was conducted using data from 834 participants (≥60 years) from a multistage household survey in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The association between fall history in the previous year and perceived neighborhood features (quality of services, physical and social disorder, and safety) was examined using multilevel logistic regression. The fall prevalence was 13.6%. Older adults living in neighborhoods with a higher physical disorder were more likely to report fall in the previous year, even after controlling for demographic, clinical and social variables (OR = 2.59; 95% CI = 1.14-5.87). The other neighborhood features investigated were not associated with a fall history. Our findings suggest that improving the physical environment represents an important strategy to prevent falls in the Brazilian urban older population. |
