Fear of falling in older people with hypertension in Iran: Implications for clinical practice

Background: Older people commonly suffer from chronic diseases such as hypertension. Age-related changes and hypertension treatments put older people at risk of falling and fear of falling. This study was conducted to identify the predictors of fear of falling in older people with hypertension in Tehran, Iran. Method: This retrospective study was conducted on 301 older people with hypertension above age 60 in eight educational hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and the Persian Falls Efficacy Scale-International. Data were analyzed with SPSS 25. Results: The mean age of the participants was 68.62 ± (6.82) years. The mean of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were 138.94 ± (13.35) and 87.18 ± (10.65) respectively. 31.8% of the participants had a medium and high level of fear of falling. The multiple regression results showed that fear of falling was significantly associated with gender (ß = 0.20, p<0.001), educational level (ß = 0.28, p<0.001), and history of falling (ß = -0.20, p<0.001). Conclusions: The results show that higher levels of fear of falling in older people with hypertension are in male participants, with a higher level of education, and without history of falling. Providers should develop programs to prevent and reduce fear of falling in those at risk and to reduce the consequences

Association between fear of falling and self-care behaviours of older people with hypertension

Aim: This study investigated the association between fear of falling and self-care behaviours of older people with hypertension. Design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: This study was conducted in 2019 on 301 older people with hypertension above the age of 60 years in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Persian Falls Efficacy Scale-International, and a hypertension- related self-care behaviour questionnaire. Results: Analyses revealed that gender, educational level and history of falling were significant factors associated with fear of falling; and marital status, educational level and income source were significant factors associated with self-care behaviours (p< 0.05). Partial correlations controlling for education revealed a significant positive correlation showing that high fear of falling is associated with worse health promotion self-care behaviours and significant inverse correlations with psycho-emotional, social and daily self-care behaviours (p< 0.05), meaning that high fear of falling is associated with better self-care for these dimensions. Patient or Public Contribution: This study involved patients in order to evaluate the validity and reliability of the questionnaires. The study was conducted on older people with hypertension referred to hypertension clinics in hospitals