Fall and its association with the frailty syndrome in the elderly: Systematic review with meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the prevalence of falls and frailty syndrome and the association between these two syndromes in the elderly population. Method: Systematic review, without restriction of dates, in English, Portuguese and Spanish languages, in the databases PubMed, CINAHL, LILACS and in the SciElo virtual library. The association between both variables was extracted from the studies (Odds Ratio and 95% Confidence Intervals). Results: The review included 19 studies published between 2001 and 2015. The prevalence of falls in the frail elderly population was between 6.7% and 44%; in the pre-frail, between 10.0% and 52.0%, and in the non-frail, between 7.6% and 90.4%. The association between both variables presented a value of OR 1.80 (95% CI 1.51-2.13). Conclusion: There is evidence that falls are associated to the frailty in the elderly. Other factors may influence this association, such as age, sex, data collection instrument of the studies, place where they live and the process of senescence.