Concise reports
The occurrence of falls among patients with a new episode of hip
pain
Arthritis and Rheumatism Council Epidemiology Research
Unit, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, University of
Manchester
Correspondence to: Dr G J Macfarlane, ARC Epidemiology Research Unit, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT.
Accepted for publication 29 January 1998
OBJECTIVES
To establish the risk of falling among
those who consult their general practitioner with a new episode of hip
pain and to discover if risk is altered by age and according to
whether, at presentation, signs of osteoarthritis are present on radiography.
METHODSA case-control study was conducted. Cases
were all patients who presented with a new episode of hip pain to
participating general practices throughout the United Kingdom. All
cases had a pelvic radiograph taken on recruitment to the study. Three
controls were matched for sex, age, and general practice to each case. A questionnaire was sent by post to all cases and controls. The risk of
having fallen in the past 12 months among cases and controls was compared.
RESULTSThe study included 111 cases presenting
with hip pain and 229 controls who had not consulted with hip pain in
the previous 12 months. Women (odds ratio = 3.6, 95% CI 1.9, 6.7) but
not men (odds ratio = 0.8, 95% CI 0.3, 2.3) reported an increased risk of falling in the previous 12 months. Similar results were obtained when the previous four months were considered. For all cases, hip pain
predated any reported falls. The increased risk in women was found
particularly for those aged less than 70. Risk of falling was not
altered by the presence of radiological changes of osteoarthritis.
CONCLUSIONSHip pain, which may be a symptom of
osteoarthritis of the hip, increases the risk of falling. This finding
has implications for the advice offered by general practitioners to
patients who consult with early hip pain.
© 1998 by Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Volpato, S., Leveille, S. G., Blaum, C., Fried, L. P., Guralnik, J. M.
(2005). Risk Factors for Falls in Older Disabled Women With Diabetes: The Women's Health and Aging Study. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
60: 1539-1545
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Armstrong, C, Swarbrick, C M, Pye, S R, O'Neill, T W
(2005). Occurrence and risk factors for falls in rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis
64: 1602-1604
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Kaz Kaz, H., Johnson, D., Kerry, S., Chinappen, U., Tweed, K., Patel, S.
(2004). Fall-related risk factors and osteoporosis in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology (Oxford)
43: 1267-1271
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
-
Pain (neurology)
-
Clinical diagnostic tests
-
Radiology (diagnostics)
-
Radiology
-
Degenerative joint disease
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
