New York University Falls Prevention Program

Summary

Limited health services research and evidence-based programming has been focused on elderly fall prevention, despite high fall-related morbidity and mortality. Among NY's elderly population, falls account for nearly half of all older adults' injury-related deaths and are the 4th leading cause of hospitalizations. As fall risk increases with age, the magnitude of this health issue will continue to increase. Scientific evidence shows that prevention efforts significantly reduce the frequency and severity of falls. Research also suggests that multi-component intervention programs, such as Prevention Of Falls in the Elderly Trial, "PROFET", are successful because benefits are derived from small improvements across several risk categories.

The investigators propose expanding the reach of fall prevention efforts to at-risk and underserved populations of community-dwelling, older adults by delivering a home-based program -- "C-PROFET", an adaptation of Prevention Of Falls in the Elderly Trial (PROFET), an evidence-based, multi-factorial, fall prevention program. Investigators will test two hypotheses: (1) Oral health care programs and services can be a portal for identifying underserved community dwelling elders at risk for falls who can benefit from a fall prevention program; and (2) Provision of fall prevention efforts to an at-risk clinical population before these patients experience a serious fall-related injury will reduce fall-risk, and potentially decrease fall-related morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs.

This initiative is to lay the necessary groundwork for larger implementation efforts that will advance efforts to reduce fall risk in vulnerable, community-dwelling older adults. The investigators propose to deliver "C-PROFET" to vulnerable, older adults identified through dental clinics and community oral health outreach services. The overall objectives are to improve patient-centered health outcomes, demonstrate feasibility of a multicomponent intervention to reduce/prevent fall-related morbidity and mortality in an at-risk, community-dwelling, clinical population, and disseminate this falls prevention program to community partner organizations to broadly translate these findings into clinical practice.

Conditions

• Falls Related Risk Factors in the Elderly

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

C-PROFET

An expansion of the evidence-based, multi-factorial, fall prevention program PROFET (Prevention Of Falls in the Elderly Trial), developed for older adults who experienced a fall-related injury, to an at risk community-dwelling population who have not sustained a fall-related injury requiring medical intervention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• New York University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Victoria H. Raveis, PhD · New York University

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-07-29

Primary Completion

2024-07-31

Completion

2024-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations