Professor Stephen Lord from Neuroscience Research Australia, University of New South Wales, will be presenting the following topics:
Session 1: Falls in Older People: Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies. An overview of the latest evidence.
Falls pose a major threat to the well-being and quality of life for older people.
This presentation will focus on fall and risk mobility assessments and the roles exercise, impaired vision, sensation, strength, reaction time, and coordination play in predisposing older people to falls.
New approaches for fall prevention will be discussed.
Presenter's Note:
There is evidence that high doses of Vitamin D supplementation may result in increased risk of falls. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 2256 community-dwelling women, aged 70 years or older, found that a single high-dose of 500 000 IU vitamin D administered orally for 3-5 years resulted in a 15% increase in falls and 26% increase in factures.1 The increased risk was pronounced during the 3-month post-dose period, when serum 25-OHD levels would have been highest. Another trial also found high monthly doses of vitamin D supplementation increased falls in 200 community-dwelling older people who had fallen in the last year.2
1. Sanders KM, Stuart AL, Williamson EJ, et al. Annual High-Dose Oral Vitamin D and Falls and Fractures in Older Women.JAMA. 2010;303:1815.
2. Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Dawson-Hughes B, Orav EJ, et al. Monthly High-Dose Vitamin D Treatment for the Prevention of Functional Decline.JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176:175.
