Fear of Falling and Its Contributing Factors in the Elderly Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis

The elderly patients undergoing hemodialysis are at higher risk for falling and its critical outcomes compared with their healthy counterparts. Falls can lead to the individual becoming fearful of experiencing subsequent falls. Yet little is known about the fear of falling in this high risk population. The present study aimed to assess the fear of falling and its contributing factors in the elderly patients with the history of falls undergoing hemodialysis, who referred to the hospitals in Tehran city in 2021.

 In this descriptive analytic cross sectional study, which was performed on 197 patients undergoing hemodialysis referring to Tehran city hospitals in 2021. Patients were selected with convenience sampling. The instruments for data collection was demographic characteristics scale, FES-I scales. Data analysis was done by using descriptive and inferential tests and was shown via SPSS 21 software.

 Mean age of participants was 70.02 ± 8.12 years and (63.5%) were men. Mean time on hemodialysis was 29.03 ± 50.16 years. Mean Falls Efficacy Scale-International Score was 16.29 ± 8.24 points, which is consistent with a high fear of falling. There was consistency between adherence to fear of falling and demographic information (p < 0.05).

According to the results, the frequency of fear of falling in the elderly patients with the history of falls undergoing hemodialysis was significantly high.  In older hemodialysis patients, fear of falling is a likely contributor to the occurrence of falls. Future researches should explore reducing the fear of falling as a preventive factor for falls in elderly hemodialysis patients.