Programa en casa para prevenir caídas en el adulto mayor no institucionalizado.

Abstract

Epidemiological studies estimate that about one in every three people over 65 who live in the community fall at least once a year, with a progressive increase in falls as the age of the population increases. Falls have serious consequences, both physical (cause fractures in 5-6% of cases) and psychological (loss of self-confidence, fear of falling again), without forgetting its social and economic impact, in addition to having a high mortality, since they cause 70% of deaths by accident in people> 75 years. Clinical trials have shown that a home-based "rehabilitation" program is effective in preventing functional deterioration in non-institutionalized older adults, where the main cause of this damage is falls. The programs in the home is a type of primary health care, which is focused on the provision of services to the need; The present investigation aims to estimate the efficacy of a program at home to prevent falls in the elderly, not institutionalized. The research work method is a simple randomized clinical trial in 30 subjects older than 60 years without neurological or orthopedic pathologies, 80% are female and 20% male. We intervened for 12 weeks through the Otago exercise program carried out at home under physiotherapeutic supervision. It was obtained as results that the final measurement in comparison with the baseline, the average and the standard deviation in the time up and go decreased in the experimental group and increased in the control group; in the functional range test, it increases in the experimental group and decreases in the control group. The comparative analysis between the models made the difference of averages and the confidence interval, show significant changes in the population to which it was intervened; it is verified that the age variable does not generate confusion in the effect of the intervention. The confidence interval obtained from the sample was 95%. The behavior of the graphs between the control and experimental groups show improvements in the experimental group with respect to the time-up and go-test and functional scope. It is concluded that the OTAGO home-based exercise program was effective in reducing the risk of falls in the non-institutionalized older adult.