Household Environmental Risk Factors for Fall in Older People (≥ 65 Years) in Rural Pondicherry

• Main Authors: Balabaskaran S, Amol R Dongre
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Light House Polyclinic Mangalore 2018-07-01
• Series: Online Journal of Health & Allied Sciences
• Subjects: Fall; Older adults; Housing for the elderly; Risk factor; Lighting
• Online Access: https://www.ojhas.org/issue66/2018-2-6.html

Background: Most households in rural India have potential environmental hazards for fall among older people. There is limited information available on magnitude of these factors in our context. Objective: To assess the potential environmental risk factors for fall in and around the rural households of older people. Methods: The cross sectional survey was done in 14 villages of Primary Health Care Centre (PHC) Thirubhuvanai, Pondicherry. Representative samples of 570 houses were observed for risk factors using pre-designed and pre-tested checklist, which was carried out by trained post-graduates in Community Medicine. Environmental factors such as the type of house, presence of stairs without support, unstable furniture, adequate lighting arrangement, presence/use of latrine, supports in the toilet and bathroom were observed. Frequencies of variables were obtained by using SPSS (Version 24.0). Results: Out of 570 houses, 285(50%) houses were pucca and 340 (59.6%) houses had cemented floor. Unstable furniture was present in 203 (59.4%) houses. Among houses, the latrine was present in 333 (58.4%) houses, where toilet was in use in 284 (85.2%) whereas 315 (94.3%) houses didn’t have any support in their latrine. Bathroom was present in 338 (59.3%) houses and only 11 bathrooms (3.2%) had support. Majority of the houses had adequate lighting in living room and toilets; however, it was relatively low in the kitchen. Conclusion: Majority of households had potential environmental risk factors. Interventions at household level are required to minimize these risk factors. The results of this study indicate the need for environmental inspection and hazard reduction measures in their houses.