Rate of falls and the correlates among elderly people living in an urban community in Japan.

Eight hundred and seven elderly persons aged 65-84 years who were randomly selected from the community were interviewed about falls. The rate of falls in the preceding year was 12.8% in men and 21.5% in women. The difference in the rate between the sexes was statistically significant. The rate in the older group was significantly higher than that in the younger group in both sexes, when they were divided into two major age categories. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that contact with a doctor within a month preceding the survey in both sexes, age, history of stroke, visual deficit in men, and urinary or bowel incontinence in women were significantly associated with increased risk of falling. The study reveals that falls tend to occur in physically frail elderly people in the community.