Research Paper on Gender, Age and Falls in a Medical Setting (Research Paper Sample)

Gender, Age, Fall Research
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Abstract
The incidence of falls amongst the elderly includes injurious falls that cause an international concern as the risk of succumbing escalates with age. Individuals aged 85 years and above being more susceptible. Injuries result from falls causing reduced mobility, disability, independence and a higher risk of premature death. The issue under study also causes psychological harm such as depression or fear where the affected live with a fear of falling hence restricting productivity. Little research has been carried out to examine the gender-specific risk factors despite the extensive studies on falls in the elderly. The researcher conducts a scoping review to assess the impact of sex and age on falls. The study is carried out in the province of British Columbia in Canada where nationally, a majority of the hospitalization among the elderly is accounted to falls. This proposal seeks to examine the current literature regarding the role played by gender in exercise or physical activity to prevent falls among older adults. Secondary questions will explore the gender factors considered when planning a physical activity for fall prevention. Besides, the study will also indicate the implications of implementing fall prevention strategies using exercises and activity.
KEYWORDS
Falls, older adults, elderly, aged, geriatric population, exercise, physical activity, gender, sex, sex difference or Biological difference.
Definition of Terms
Falls: They are common among the older generation often with devastating implications such as personal suffering. Child et al. (2012) states that the societal costs incurred as a result of falls are quite extensive with the incidence varying across settings and populations. In this context, falls are defined as the unforeseen events in which the individual(s) comes to rest on the lower level, ground, or floor and they do not happen at random besides they can be anticipated by evaluating some risk factors.
Exercise: This is an activity that requires physical effort and is implemented to sustain or improve health.
Physical activity: This is defined as a bodily movement that is produced by the skeletal muscles resulting in energy expenditure. It is categorized into conditioning, sports, household, occupational or other activities. In reference to Boelens, Hekman and Verkerke (2013), physical inactivity is viewed as a behavior-related risk factor for falls hence increasing the risk of becoming disabled or immobile.
Gender: Describes the range of characteristics that differentiate feminity and masculinity.
Sex: the classification of organisms into female and male varieties.
Older adults: a definition for individuals who are older than 65 years.
Background
In reference to Stahl and Albert (2014), falls are among the leading causes of dependence in older age. Besides, they can lead to permanent disability, reduced quality of life, loss of mobility, besides death among the senior citizens. Furthermore, falling in older age significantly increases the risk admission in a residential aged care facility or hospital. In reference to Hammer (2010), falls during late life are familiar with 30% of older adults aged 65 years and above are affected. A further 50% of seniors aged eighty years fall annually. Nearly three community-dwelling people who are aged 65 years and above are vulnerable to a fall annually, and this figure is projected it will grow tremendously with the continued aging of the global population. Al-Aama (2011) argues that it is especially high in Canada where the number of senior citizens aged over 75 years is expected to increase considerably by the year 2050. The risk is doubled or tripled in cases where the affected have other underlying conditions or a history of previous falls. Postural hypotension which is common among older adults is a predictor of risk factors associated with falls.
Questions are being asked surrounding whether older adults experience similar or varying behavioral patterns. LeBouthillier et al. (2013) report that there is inadequate information about the longitudinal change in exercises or physical activities among older adults who fall. The scarce literature limits the understanding of relationships frequency of falls and the patterns of physical activity. In reference to Chang (2015), this knowledge is vital when making interventions targeting the prevention of future falls. The multiple domains of physical activity include balance training, walking and strength training.
Stevens and Sagolow (2012) argues that there are gender disparities in the prevalence of falls and exercises in late life. Women are reported as ones who had better odds of reporting falls and seeking medical attention. The high economic burden besides significant personal cost evidently demonstrates that falls are now a public health issue and demand serious attention. However, it was noted that women outlived the other sex hence explaining why they were affected by injuries proportionally. CDC (2014) reports that compared to men, women are less active hence falls affect either gender differently. The muscular weakness is also a reliable predictor of falls in women and men.
Physical activity among the older people is recognized by the World Health Organization as a vital part of the answers to the problems of population aging and the related need for international action to make sure their health and well-being is sustained into the penultimate days of their life (CDC, 2016). Moreover, there is strong evidence that specific exercise programs that test balance are most successful in preventing falls among the older people. The risk factors, for instance, diminished muscle strength and weakened balance can be enhanced with physical exercise while other risk factors such as poor vision and psychoactive medication use need some other intervention strategies. In reference to Stevens et al. (2012), women participants were more susceptible to falls compared to men. There were also disparities in the physical activities of frequent fallers during late life. CDC (2014) argues that regardless of the women’s fall group, they engaged in minimal leisure activity hence explaining why their activity trajectory was not significantly affected.
Falls
Falls being prominent amongst the external causes leading to unintentional injury are usually coded as E880-E888 especially in International Classification of Disease-9 (ICD-9), or W00-W19 mostly in ICD-10, which comprises of a wide variety of falls majorly upper level, same level, in addition to other unspecified falls. Additionally, falls are commonly defined as involuntarily coming to rest on the floor, ground, or other lower level, exclusive of intentional change in any position to rest on a wall, furniture, or other objects.
In reference to Stahl and Albert (2014), all older adults are encouraged to participate in walks. Intermittent and frequent fallers engaged in less strenuous activities such as leisure and recreational. The study did not modify the association between physical activity and falling frequency. In this case, the self-assessment of injuries reduced the ability accurately examine the effect of the drops. Dyrstad et al. (2014) calls upon future studies to deploy techniques that are more sensitive to assessing injuries associated with falls.
In reference to Chang et al. (2004), falls pose a tremendous health challenge to the older adults in the United States where one out of three aged above 65 years living in the community are affected. The proportion of the global population aged above seventy years is made up of women who have a greater fall mortality compared to younger people. The severity of the complications related to fall is associated with age. The main sequelae of falls incorporate fall-related injuries such as cranial injuries, fractures and post-fall anxiety. The victims are as a result left to deal with the loss of independence through the fear of falling and disability (Gillespie et al. 2012). The reduction in mobility and dependence facilitate admission into nursing institutions.
The adoption of a relevant definition is a vital requirement when researching falls since numerous studies fail to state an operational definition, which leaves room or space for analysis to study participants (Dyrstad et al., 2014). This research results in several contradictory interpretations of falls. For instance, older people have a tendency to refer to a fall as a loss of balance, while health care professionals usually define falls as an event that leads to injuries as well as disease. Consequently, fall’s operational definition with clear inclusion and exclusion criteria is extremely essential.
In reference to Chang et al. (2004), the cost of managing fall injuries in the United States was projected to be 32.4 billion dollars by 2020. The many studies carried out provide insights of fall prevention, but there lacks meaningful information on how to prevent falls in older adults. In reference to Scott et al. (2001), 1 out of 3 elderly persons aged 65 years or above are approximated to fall at least once annually in British Columbia. A half of the affected always experience minor injuries with a 5%-25% of falls causing more severe injuries such as sprains or fractures.
In reference to Donath, vanDieen and Faude (2016), training in balance and strength is essential in preventing fall rates and neuromuscular fall risk factors. Others emphasized include proper balance and strength training, eccentric exercises, aerobics, trunk strength and trunk control. Numerous individual fall risk factors include explosive lower extremity strength, asymmetrical and deteriorated power. Besides, improper postural control has also been identified as a factor.
Falling in older adults in the community is as a result...