Hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia are risk factors for falls in the hospital population

• Published in: Acta diabetologica 2019-08, Vol.56 (8), p.931-938
• Main Authors: Berra, Cesare, De Fazio, Francesco, Azzolini, Elena, Albini, Marco, Zangrandi, Federico, Mirani, Marco, Garbossa, Stefania, Guardado-Mendoza, Rodolfo, Condorelli, Gianluigi, Folli, Franco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accidental Falls - statistics & numerical data; Aged; Blood glucose; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology; Female; Glucose; Hospitals - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Hyperglycemia; Hyperglycemia - epidemiology; Hypoglycemia; Hypoglycemia - epidemiology; Inpatients - statistics & numerical data; Insulin; Internal Medicine; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Middle Aged; Multivariate analysis; Original Article; Population; Risk factors
• ISSN: 0940-5429; 1432-5233
• DOI: 10.1007/s00592-019-01323-8

Objective To determine the role of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia or the combination of both as independent risk factors for falls in a hospital population. Secondary objectives included evaluation of other risk factors for falling and their relationships with glucose levels. Research design and methods Retrospective cohort study over 2 years on hospitalized subjects ( N  = 57411) analyzing in-hospital-falls and capillary glucose values. Bivariate analysis ( χ 2 test) and multivariate analysis (logistic regression) were performed to test for correlation of glucose values, age, sex, Charlson index, service of care, diagnosis at discharge and diabetes treatment with risk of in-hospital-falls. Results The comparison of patients who experienced a fall (fall population) with the non-fall population suggested that: glucose determinations were significantly more frequent in the fall population (OR 3.45; CI 2.98–3.99; p