Prevalence of Falls and Associated Factors in Haemodialysis Patients

In France, falls among the elderly lead to more than 100,000 hospitalisations and more than 10,000 deaths each year. A French study published in October 2020 highlighted 5 profiles of older people who fall. However, this study is only based on falls of people over 65 years of age that required hospitalisation.

In haemodialysis patients, several studies have shown that the incidence of falls ranges from 1.18 to 1.6 falls/patient/year. This population is more likely to be frail, suffer from sarcopenia, have reduced functional capacity and be polymedicated, all of which are associated with an increased risk of falls. Few studies have focused on falls in young patients. In one American study, where the population was predominantly African American (about 62%), 28.4% of patients had at least one fall during follow-up. The number of falls in people aged 45-64 years was similar to that in people aged over 75 years.

In clinical practice, few patients report the occurrence of falls other than those leading to an emergency department visit or hospitalisation, and these falls are even less likely to be recorded in the medical record.

To our knowledge, there are few or no data on falls in haemodialysis patients of all ages in a French population. This lack of knowledge is partly due to an underestimation of the problem associated with under-reporting.

A study of the prevalence of falls in a haemodialysis population of all ages is therefore necessary to determine whether there is an interest in implementing a collective and/or individual prevention programme, possibly depending on the identified risk factors for falls.