IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i9p1598-d228801.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Scoping Review of Epidemiological, Ergonomic, and Longitudinal Cohort Studies Examining the Links between Stair and Bathroom Falls and the Built Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Nancy Edwards

    (School of Nursing, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1S 5L5, Canada)

  • Joshun Dulai

    (School of Nursing, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1S 5L5, Canada)

  • Alvi Rahman

    (Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada)

Abstract

Stair and bathroom falls contribute to injuries among older adults. This review examined which features of stairs and bathrooms have been assessed in epidemiological, ergonomic, and national aging studies on falls or their risk factors. Epidemiological and ergonomic studies were eligible if published from 2006–2017, written in English, included older persons, and reported built environment measures. The data extracted included the following: study population and design, outcome measures, and stair and bathroom features. National aging studies were eligible if English questionnaires were available, and if data were collected within the last 10 years. Sample characteristics; data collection methods; and data about falls, the environment, and assistive device use were extracted. There were 114 eligible articles assessed—38 epidemiologic and 76 ergonomic. Among epidemiological studies, 2 assessed stair falls only, 4 assessed bathroom falls only, and 32 assessed falls in both locations. Among ergonomic studies, 67 simulated stairs and 9 simulated bathrooms. Specific environmental features were described in 14 (36.8%) epidemiological studies and 73 (96%) ergonomic studies. Thirteen national aging studies were identified—four had stair data and six had bathroom data. Most epidemiologic and national aging studies did not include specific measures of stairs or bathrooms; the built environment descriptions in ergonomic studies were more detailed. More consistent and detailed environmental measures in epidemiologic and national aging studies would better inform fall prevention approaches targeting the built environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Nancy Edwards & Joshun Dulai & Alvi Rahman, 2019. "A Scoping Review of Epidemiological, Ergonomic, and Longitudinal Cohort Studies Examining the Links between Stair and Bathroom Falls and the Built Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-24, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:9:p:1598-:d:228801
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1598/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1598/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Northridge, M.E. & Nevitt, M.C. & Kelsey, J.L. & Link, B., 1995. "Home hazards and falls in the elderly: The role of health and functional status," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 85(4), pages 509-515.
    2. Engstler, Heribert & Schmiade, Nicole, 2013. "The German Ageing Survey (DEAS) – A Longitudinal and Time-Series Study of People in the Second Half of Life," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 133(1), pages 97-107.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jie Li & Floris Goerlandt & Kai Way Li, 2019. "Slip and Fall Incidents at Work: A Visual Analytics Analysis of the Research Domain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-18, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mi Jung Lee & Daejin Kim & Sergio Romero & Ickpyo Hong & Nikolay Bliznyuk & Craig Velozo, 2022. "Examining Older Adults’ Home Functioning Using the American Housing Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Matthias Pannhorst & Florian Dost, 2022. "A Life-Course View on Ageing Consumers: Old-Age Trajectories and Gender Differences," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 1157-1180, April.
    3. Oliver Huxhold & Elena Hees & Noah J. Webster, 2020. "Towards bridging the grey digital divide: changes in internet access and its predictors from 2002 to 2014 in Germany," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 271-280, September.
    4. Jan Eckhard & Johannes Stauder, 2018. "Migration and the Partner Market: How Gender-Selective Relocations Affect Regional Mating Chances in Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 59-86, February.
    5. Lava R Timsina & Joanna L Willetts & Melanye J Brennan & Helen Marucci-Wellman & David A Lombardi & Theodore K Courtney & Santosh K Verma, 2017. "Circumstances of fall-related injuries by age and gender among community-dwelling adults in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-21, May.
    6. Ates, Merih, 2017. "Does grandchild care influence grandparents’ self-rated health? Evidence from a fixed effects approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 67-74.
    7. Jan Eckhard, 2018. "Indicators of Social Isolation: A Comparison Based on Survey Data from Germany," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 963-988, October.
    8. Alberto J Caban-Martinez & Theodore K Courtney & Wen-Ruey Chang & David A Lombardi & Yueng-Hsiang Huang & Melanye J Brennan & Melissa J Perry & Jeffrey N Katz & Santosh K Verma, 2014. "Preventing Slips and Falls through Leisure-Time Physical Activity: Findings from a Study of Limited-Service Restaurants," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(10), pages 1-5, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:9:p:1598-:d:228801. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.