Nearly half of uninjured fallers over 72 could not get up unaided, and 80% of fallers over 90
Why does getting up off the floor matter in old age?
The finding
148 of 313 uninjured fallers aged 72+ (47%) could not get up unaided after at least one fall. Among people over 90 who fell, 53 of 66 (80%) could not get up at least once, and 20 (30%) lay on the floor for an hour or more.
- Authors
- Tinetti ME, Liu WL, Claus EB; Fleming J, Brayne C
- Published
- JAMA 269(1):65–70; BMJ 337:a2227 · 1993; 2008
- Evidence
- Read in the primary source; numbers checked.
- Source
- doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a2227
How it was studied
Tinetti: 1,103 New Haven residents aged 72 and over, mean follow-up 21 months. Fleming: 110 people over 90 in Cambridge.
The numbers
In Tinetti, poor balance and gait doubled the risk of being unable to get up (RR 2.0, 1.5–2.7). In Fleming, long lies were strongly linked to serious injury, hospital admission and moves into long-term care; the authors conclude that people need training in strategies to get up from the floor.
What it does not show
Small, older cohorts with self- or proxy-reported falls. They support getting up from the floor as a goal; they do not test whether sit-and-rise training prevents long lies.
What Longstanding does with it
This is the reason "get up off the floor with one hand" is one of the sixteen goals at 85.