Association between urinary urgency and falls among rural dwelling older women

Abstract

Aim To examine the association between urinary urgency and falls in older women living in rural areas in South Korea. Design A secondary analysis was conducted using cross-sectional data. Methods This study used dataset obtained from 246 women aged 65 years or older living in 15 rural mountain communities in South Korea between February 2016-March 2016. Falls were measured by self-reports including the number, location, reasons of falls during the past year. Frequency of urinary urgency and nocturia were assessed by self-reports. Covariates included age, body mass index, self-reported health problems. Mixed-effects negative binomial regression was used to analyse the association between urinary urgency and the number of falls. Results The mean age of the 246 women was 77.3 years. Among the sample, 30.1% experienced at least one fall in the past year and 16% had required hospital treatments. The analysis showed that urinary urgency and osteoporosis were significantly associated with a greater number of falls after adjusting for other covariates. Among those who had experienced falls, nearly 60% reported that the reasons for falls were environmental factors, such as slippery floors or uneven sidewalks/thresholds. Conclusion Improving urinary urgency may be a strategy to decrease the fall risk in older women. Accordingly, community nurses can provide intervention programs on lifestyle and behavioural changes such as bladder training, dietary modification and pelvic floor muscle training. Interventions for fall prevention need to be developed while considering the unique features of indoor and outdoor environments. Impact The findings have implications for healthcare providers and policy makers with regard to the development of safer indoor and outdoor environments for older women living in rural areas by remodelling their residential spaces and neighbourhoods. In addition, more prospective studies using larger samples are needed to investigate the causal mechanism between urinary urgency and falls.