Falling in the elderly and its relation to diabetes, a review article

falling which can cause functional decline, psycho- social consequences and reduced quality of life is a threatening factor of health in the elderly . Due to the increase of elderly and aging processes, chronic diseases such as diabetes have been increased and its complications, such as blurred vision, leg ulcers and diabetic neuropathy increase the risk of falling in the elderly. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between falling and diabetic diseases in aging period, done by surveying literature. In a total, 30 papers with keywords of elderly, falling, diabetes, chronic disease, and diabetic neuropathy were found in the prestigious international databases including pub med, Google scholar, science direct and Iranian elderly magazines (2000-2016) and were comprehensively and deeply investigated. The results showed that the incidence of falling in elderly people who had a history of chronic disease was 5.4 times more than older people who had no history of chronic diseases so that diseases such as diabetes and its complications cause falling in them by creating physical disabilities and neurological complications. Many studies suggested that there was a significant relationship between diabetic neuropathy and falling. In addition, it has found that the diabetic elderly are 15 times more at risk of falling than the non-diabetic elderly .Moreover, the diabetic elderly are 2 times more likely to have fracture after falling than non- diabetic elderly (60%). According to the findings, it seems necessary that nurses should improve their knowledge in the field of diabetes and its impact on the risk of falling in the elderly and their training in the field of preventive measures to diabetics and their families. On the other hand, with better and accurate knowledge of effective factors on the probable falling of the elderly, specially diabetic elderly, the possible falling can be reduced using preventive measures as a result, their quality of life and longevity will be increased.