Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Halk Sağlığı Anabilim Dalı, İZMİR
İl Sağlık Müdürlüğü, İZMİR The aim of this cross-sectional and analytic study was to determine frequency of and risk factors for domestic accidents in an elderly population of age 65 and older residing in the Inonu Health Center region in Izmir. The study population consisted of 359 elderly people. The calculated sample size was 186 (prevalence=0.5, standart deviation=0.05, confidence interval=%95) . The sample was consisted of 204 elderly subjects selected by cluster sampling from to midwifery zones. Dependent variable was the number of home accidents in the last 6 months, independent variables were demographic, economical, household and health parameters. All data was acquired through a face-to-face questionnaire and chi-square test, students-t test, and logistic regression were used for data analysis.
98.6 % of subjects were accessible, mean age was 70.8. 91% were uneducated, 11.4 % lived alone, 25.9 % had no social security, 42.3 % were receiving elderly wages and almost all were residing in squatter housing. 77 elderly people (38.3 %) had home accidents in the last 6 months. 2/3 of the accidents were slipping and falls. Being female (p = 0.000), living alone (p= 0.04), being in moderate, bad, or very bad health ( p= 0.002), irregular placement of the furniture in the house (p= 0.01) were significantly increases the accidents. In logistic regression analysis women were more prone to home accidents than men with a relative risk of 3.9 ( p= 0.000). In conclusion in a low socioeconomic region, 6-month rate of domestic accidents in the elderly was high, mainly determined by gender. Keywords : Elderly, Home accidents, Prevalence, Risk factors.