A team of researchers from Columbia University Medical Center’s Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine, New York, conducted a prospective longitudinal cohort study to assess fall-related injury risk and risk factors in people with lower-limb amputations. Their study was published December 22 in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine.
Community-dwelling adults with lower-limb amputations of any etiology and level were recruited from support groups and prosthetic clinics. Follow-up was conducted every six months for up to 41 months. Demographic and clinical characteristics were obtained by self-reported questionnaire and telephone or in-person follow-up. Fall-related injury incidence requiring medical care per person-month and adjusted hazard ratio of fall-related injury were calculated.
A total of 41 subjects, with 782 follow-up person-months, had 11 fall-related injuries (14.1/1,000 person-months). During follow-up, 56.1 percent of subjects reported falling and 26.8 percent reported fall-related injuries. Further, women were nearly six times more likely as men to experience fall-related injuries and nonwhite people were 13 times more likely than white people to experience fall-related injury. The final predictive model also included vascular amputation and age.
The researchers concluded that the risk of fall-related injuries requiring medical care in people with lower-limb amputations appears to be higher than in older adult inpatients. They suggested that intervention programs to prevent fall-related injuries in people with lower-limb amputations should target women and racial minorities.