Care Management Service and Falls Prevention: A Case-Control Study in a Chinese Population

Objective: This study evaluates the effect of a care management service (CMS) on falls in older adults. Method: This is a retrospective case-control study with 78 CMS recipients as the case group who received CMS and another 312 community-dwelling frail elders as the control group. The groups were matched by age, gender, activity of daily living, cognitive impairment, and unsteady gait. Thus they were comparable in characteristics and frailty. Results: Among the 390 participants, 89 older adults (23.0%) had falls in the 90 days prior to the survey. After controlling for the identified risk factors for falls, the odds ratio of CMS was 0.27 (95% confidence interval = 0.110-0.663, p < .01). Discussion: These findings indicate that CMS recipients have a lower chance for falls compared to their counterparts. The two features of CMS (comprehensive assessment and multidisciplinary actions to reduce fall risks) are discussed.