Abstract: Objective To investigate the status and influencing factors of falls in hospitalized elderly. Methods A total of 183 elderly patients aged ≥60 years old who were hospitalized in Nanjing First Hospital and suffered from fall in hospital from 2019 to 2021 were enrolled in this study. The general characteristics, comorbidities, drug use and laboratory examination indicators of the patients were collected, and Barthel index score and fall score were evaluated. The basic characteristics of the elderly who fell were analyzed. At the same time, gender- and age- matched 174 elderly hospitalized patients who did not suffer from falls were selected as control group. The differences in the clinical indicators were compared between the two groups, and the risk factors of falls in the elderly were analyzed by multivariate Logistic regression. Results The fall occurred mainly at 6:00-9:00 in the morning (19.8%) and 17:00-20:00 in the evening (17.0%) in 183 elderly falling patients. The main place of fall was in the ward (68.9%), followed by the bathroom (18.0%). Univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in body mass index (BMI), Na, Cl, Ca, hemoglobin(Hb), albumin, total protein, blood glucose, number of drugs, fall score, Barthel index score and the proportion of insulin, diuretics, antipyretic drugs, sleep aids, painkillers and quinolones used between the two groups. Multivariate analysis showed that BMI, Hb, blood glucose, Na, number of drugs and Barthel index score (41-60) were the influencing factors of falls in hospitalized elderly patients (OR=0.922, 95%CI: 0.857-0.992;OR=0.980, 95%CI: 0.965-0.995; OR=1.345, 95%CI: 1.186-1.527;OR=0.872, 95%CI: 0.804-0.947; OR= 2.957, 95%CI: 1.687-5.181; OR=2.979, 95%CI: 1.157-7.672; OR=4.419, 95%CI: 1.480-13.193, respectively). Conclusions Multiple drug use and decreased self-care ability in the elderly are risk factors for falls, and it is important to prevent them in hospital.

Key words: fall, multidrug use, Barthel index, aged, influencing factor