Use of personal call alarms among community-dwelling older people

Having a fall and then lying on the floor for an hour or more is known as a long lie', which is associated with serious injury and an elevated risk of admission to hospital, long-term care and death. Personal call alarms are designed to prevent long lies, although little is known about their use. Using cross-sectional data from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing, this study investigated the proportion of self-reported users of personal call alarms among 3,091 community-dwelling adults aged 65+ who reported difficulties of mobility or activities of daily living. The characteristics of users were then explored through logistic regressions comparing those living alone with those living with others. One hundred and eighty people self-reported using a personal call alarm (6%). Multivariate regression found the following to significantly predict personal call alarm use among both those living alone and with others: greater difficulty with activities/instrumental activities of daily living, older age, and for those living with others only: lower score on the quality of life subscale for control. Personal call alarm use may be markedly lower than the 30 per cent annual incidence of falls among community-dwelling older people. Better understanding is needed of the reasons for low usage, even amongst those at highest falls risk for whom such alarms are most likely to be beneficial.