Seniors with Existing Disabilities Less Likely to Recover From Falls

Researchers at Yale have found that seniors who sustain a hip fracture or other serious fall are injury are significantly  more likely to recover if they did not have other serious disabilities before the fall.

The researchers studied 100 seniors who had fallen within the past year. They found that those with no preexisting disabilities had a 45 percent probability of a rapid recovery and a 38 percent probability of a gradual recovery. On the other hand, those with existing progressive disabilities had a 70 percent chance of not recovering and those with existing severe disabilities had a 100 chance of not recovering.

The 13 activities used to classify disability level were bathing, dressing, walking inside the house, transferring from a chair, shopping, housework, meal preparation, taking medications, managing finances, mobility, climbing a flight of stairs, lifting or carrying 10 pounds and driving. In order to be classified as having a severe disability, seniors had to be impaired for at least 10 of the 13 activities.

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