A major public health issue: the high incidence of falls during pregnancy

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bhattacharya, Amit ; Dunning K ; Lemasters, Grace
• Description:
  The objectives of this population based cohort study of 3997 women was to determine the incidence of falling and risk factors related to falls during pregnancy. Birth certificate data identified women who had delivered a child within the previous 2 months. Subjects were reached either by phone, internet or mailed surveys. The women were asked about health issues and activities at the time of the fall. Of the 3997 participants, 1070 reported falling at least once (27%) during their pregnancy. Of those 1070 35% fell two or more times, 20% sought medical care and 21% had two or more days of restricted activity. Women aged 20-24 years had an almost two fold risk of falling more than those over 35 years (odds ratio 1.9; 95% confidence interval 1.4, 2.7). Characteristics of falls included: indoors (56%), on stairs (39%) and falling from a height greater than three feet (9%) (not mutually exclusive). Though 27% of women fell while pregnant, 10% experienced two or more falls. Pregnant women should be aware of the risk factors of and situations related to falls. There is an urgent need for primary prevention in this high risk group. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Aging Occupational Health Pregnancy Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Women
• Keywords:
  Accident-potential Accident-rates Accident-statistics Age-groups Author Keywords: Fall Health-surveys Injuries Injury Injury-prevention Intervention Risk-analysis Risk-factors Statistical-analysis

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• ISSN:
  1092-7875
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  14
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038114
• Citation:
  Matern Child Health J 2010 Sep; 14(5):720-725
• Contact Point Address:
  K. Dunning, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 670394, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0394, USA
• Email:
  kari.dunning@uc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Performing Organization:
  University of Cincinnati, Department of Environmental Health, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19990930
• Source Full Name:
  Maternal and Child Health Journal
• End Date:
  20030929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ce907bd53f544813219e9cd47392dd91e0af6496c1bc13358b88b8d7dd2331b84216cd437b4dc08a47f52122abc7d68917161432e7c05539b8385f0ef14d54d9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/191924/cdc_191924_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 181.71 KB ]