Objective

To determine sociodemographic conditions and functionality in elderly, and its relationship to the risk of falling at home.

Material and methods

This is a descriptive and transversal study carried out in 13 communities in the State of Tlaxcala, with a sample size of 364 older than 65 years-old elderly. A four section validated questionnaire was applied to determine health and functional status, and to know and determine their fall- risk factors in the home setting. Data were analyzed using the statistic program SPSS v21.

Results

The 55.5% of the elderly are women, 44.4% are housewives, most of the subjects have an age between 65 to 69 years old, 67.3% live in an urban area, 47.5% have the popular social security service, 55.2% have a couple. The 57.7% are able to do daily basic activities independently. 174 (47.8%) of the subjects suffered a fall in the last six months, the most frequent places were inside home (75%), patio (23%), bedroom (15.75%), and the bathroom (12%). An 83% have low risk to suffering a fall inside home, 15.1% medium risk, and 2% high risk. Women (63.2%), mainly with overweight (42%), and those living with a couple (50.6%) have more tendency to falling down. The main risk factors for falling are carpets not fixed to the floor, a lack of bath mat in the bathrooms, no switch, no banister or light in the stairs, chairs in bad condition, objects out of hand; those who use drugs (68.4%), for being sick (60.9%), or with a functional dependence (57.5%) have higher risk for falling. The 60% of the adults are afraid of falling again.

Conclusions

Both the elderly and their relatives have to be aware of the danger inside home, therefore the importance of increase health promotion to prevent diseases and disabilities due to accidents and fallings.