Identifying Risk Factors for Fall-Related Injuries Among Inpatients at a Tertiary Hospital in China: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Wei-Feng Bian, Xiao-Juan Liu, Lian-Ying Wang and 2 others
PMID 41928559WHAT IT FOUND
Among 145 inpatient falls, improper footwear had higher injury rates (68.10% vs 51.00%), and toileting caused 35.43% of falls.
Patients with full mobility had the highest injury rate (66.10%).
Key findings
01Improper footwear was associated with a higher unadjusted injury rate (68.10% versus 51.00%; p=0.043), and footwear-related interventions were associated with lower adjusted odds of injury (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.14-0.99).
02Patients with full mobility had the highest unadjusted injury rate (66.10%), and after adjustment partial mobility and no mobility had lower odds of injury than full mobility (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.07-0.74; OR 0.09, 95% CI 0.01-0.74).
03Toileting-related activities accounted for 35.43% of falls, followed by ambulation (20.47%) and transfers in or out of beds or wheelchairs (11.81%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a single-center retrospective review of only reported falls, not all inpatients, so it cannot show that any factor caused injury. The sample had 145 cases and a post hoc power of 0.528, below 0.80, so small or moderate associations could have been missed. Only 18 children were included, and the paper states their small numbers limit separate conclusions. Falls were identified from nursing safety event reports, so unreported falls may be missing. Adjusted model included variables that were not significant in univariate screening because of limited power, so some adjusted associations are exploratory. Unmeasured confounders such as cognition or specific medical conditions may explain some findings.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the footwear and mobility findings as proof that changing shoes or managing mobility prevents injury. This was a retrospective, underpowered analysis of reported falls, and it cannot establish cause.