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Table 2 Number of Falls during the 4-year follow-up according to the Baseline Characteristics of the Study Population

From: Inappropriate medication use and risk of falls – A prospective study in a large community-dwelling elderly cohort

Variable n (%)

No fall (n = 3670)

One fall (n = 1291)

≥ 2 falls

(n = 1382)

crude p-value

Women

1922 (52)

833 (65)

987 (71)

<.001

Age (years)

    

   <75

2364 (64)

733 (57)

707 (51)

<.001

   75–79

886 (24)

364 (28)

419 (30)

 

   ≥80

420 (12)

194 (15)

256 (19)

 

Living alone

1107 (30)

494 (38)

574 (41)

<.001

Years of schooling

    

   ≤5

1204 (33)

420 (33)

474 (34)

.86

   6–9

1086 (30)

378 (29)

400 (29)

 

   10–12

479 (13)

183 (14)

185 (14)

 

   ≥13

901 (24)

308 (24)

322 (23)

 

Body Mass Index

    

   <25

1701 (46)

641 (50)

648 (48)

.09

   25–29

1489 (41)

478 (37)

524 (38)

 

   ≥30

464 (13)

166 (13)

196 (14)

 

Depressive symptoms*

369 (10)

176 (14)

201 (15)

<.001

MMSE ≥ 28†

2117 (58)

748 (58)

762 (55)

.24

Impaired mobility‡

1351 (37)

579 (46)

724 (53)

<.001

Diurnal drowsiness

554 (16)

206 (17)

259 (21)

.001

Number of drugs used ≥ 5 §

1140 (31)

459 (36)

573 (41)

<.001

At least one inappropriate medication

1092 (30)

408 (32)

504 (36)

<.001

  1. * Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale: women scoring over 22 and men scoring over 16 were considered to have depressive symptoms.
  2. † Mini Mental State Examination score.
  3. ‡ Participants were classified as having impaired mobility if they were dependant for at least one activity of the Rosow and Breslau scale.
  4. §Inappropriate medications excluded