Sotimehin AE, et al. - In patients with different degrees of glaucoma, researchers assessed the locations, circumstances, and outcomes of falls. They noted that mostly, glaucoma patients fall in and around the home and similar fall conditions were seen across the range of disease severity. This suggested that a good starting point in preventing falls in this high-risk-group were current fall-prevention-interventions, especially those stressing home modification.

Methods

• Experts conducted a prospective cohort study.
• Monthly calendars reporting falls were completed by patients with suspected or diagnosed glaucoma.
• After each fall, they administered a 30-item questionnaire to determine fall location, circumstances, and injury.
• To categorize glaucoma severity, mean deviation on visual field (VF) testing was used.
• Fall locations, circumstances, and outcomes were included as main outcome measures.

Results

• Findings suggested that 330 falls were experienced by 142 patients.
• As per data, greater likeliness of falls to occur was in and around the home (71%), and this likelihood did not vary significantly with severity of VF damage (p > 0.2).
• Tripping, (43.6%), slipping (31.3%), uneven flooring (23.5%), and poor vision (15.9%) were the most frequently cited fall situations.
• Results demonstrated that, except for poor vision, which was more frequently cited in individuals with more advanced VF damage (p=0.001), the circumstances related to falls did not vary by severity of VF damage (p > 0.2).
• Authors found that injury was caused by 43% of falls, and the chance of injury did not vary by severity of VF loss (p=0.60) or any other factor but floor type and number of comorbidities (p < 0.05 for all).
• They noted that those with more severe glaucoma, falls had a better chance of resulting in a fracture (9.4%) or an ER visit (18.8%), however these associations did not remain in multivariable models (p > 0.5 for all).