OCCUPATION AND HEALTH ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (22): 3143-3148.

• Treatise • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Meta-analysis on the correlation between chronic disease and falls in older adults

WANG Weihong1, HAN Rui2, NIU Sen3, SONG Hongying1, QI Jinfang1   

  1. 1. Departmentof Rehabilitation,Cangzhou People's Hospital,Cangzhou,Hebei 061100,China;
    2. Martial Arts Academy,Cangzhou Technical College,Cangzhou,Hebei 061100,China;
    3. Athletic Training Academy,Nanjing Sport Institute,Jiangsu,Nanjing 210014,China
  • Received:2025-02-24 Revised:2025-03-03 Online:2025-11-15 Published:2025-12-15

Abstract: Objective To explore the correlation between chronic diseases and falls in older adults through meta-analysis,so as to evaluate the impact of chronic diseases on the risk of falls in older adults. Methods Search CNKI,Wanfang,VIP,CBM,Embase,PubMed,WOS,and other databases,with the search time being from the establishment of the database to January 1,2025. Older adults aged 60 years and older who met the inclusion criteria were selected as study subjects,and the selected studies included cohort studies and case-control studies. RevMan 5.3 software was used for data analysis to summarize the fall rate of the elderly and explore the correlation between chronic diseases and falls. To ensure the quality of the studies,the Newcastle-Ottawa scale(NOS) scoring system was used for evaluation. Results The fall rate of the elderly reached 24%,and among many chronic diseases,diabetes mellitus(OR=1.20,95% CI:1.12-1.29), hyperlipidemia(OR=1.10,95% CI:1.02-1.19), anxiety or depression(OR=1.43,95% CI:1.31-1.57), cognitive dysfunction(OR=1.41,95% CI:1.17-1.69), sleep disturbance(OR=1.75,95% CI:1.25-2.47), cardiovascular disease(OR=1.18,95% CI:1.08-1.28), cerebrovascular disease(OR=1.53,95% CI:1.36-1.73), respiratory disease(OR=1.11,95% CI:1.06-1.15), osteoarthritis(OR=1.40,95% CI:1.30-1.50), osteoporosis(OR=1.31,95% CI:1.19-1.44) and visual impairments(OR=1.23,95% CI:1.15-1.33), and hearing(OR=1.62,95% CI:1.34-1.96) impairments increased the risk of falls in older adults. Conclusion Among many chronic diseases, sleep disorders, hearing impairment and cerebrovascular diseases have a particularly significant impact on falls in the elderly,so it is very important for the elderly to maintain adequate sleep and a healthy body.

Key words: Elderly, Chronic disease, Accidental falls, Risk factors, Meta-analysis

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