Impact of Balance Disorders on the Health Outcomes of Elderly People in Damanhur- Egypt | ||||
| Journal of High Institute of Public Health | ||||
| Article 7, Volume 44, Issue 1, April 2014, Page 41-47 PDF (452.16 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jhiph.2014.20356 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Author | ||||
Samia Khattab Abd El-Rahman 
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| Gerontological Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Damanhur University, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Balance disorders are a major cause of falls and the most common geriatric syndromes threatening the independence and affecting the health outcome of elderly people and it reduced level of function. Objective: The study aimed to assess the effects of balance disorders on health outcomes of elderly people. A cross-sectional study was conducted and comprised 114 elderly (60 years and above) from the elderly home, Damanhur. Their demographic characteristics, balance measurements and health outcomes have been evaluated. Data was collected according to the Arabic version of 12-item short form of health outcomes. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) was used to evaluate balance. The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test was used to measure basic functional mobility. Flexibility was assessed by a sit and reach test, to determine the level of fear of falling in daily life by the visual analogue scale (VAS) was used. Results: One-third of the participants (33.3%) had a history of falls once or more. The most reported morbidities were hypertension and diabetes mellitus (43.9% and 26.3%, respectively).The BBS scores were significantly associated with physical and social health domains, (r = 0.625,p=0.042, and r =0.19, p =0.048).While it was negatively correlated with the psychological health domain (r = - 0.16,p =0.087). A positive correlation was observed between the health outcome (SF-12 scores) and BBS, flexibility (r =0.016, 0.082, and 0.119).Whereas, fear of falling was negatively associated with all measured parameters except the flexibility (r = 0.063). The majority of the participants, (80.7%) had moderate health-related quality of life. Conclusion: The assessment of falling risks and body balance of the elderly in elderly homes will guide the implementation of suitable intervention programs to improve body balance, reduce falling and its consequences among elderly. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Balance impairments; health outputs; (BBS) Berg Balance Scale; elderly home; Egypt | ||||
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