Accumulated incidence of falls in people hospitalised with cancer and related factors

AIM: To study the accumulated incidence of falls of people hospitalised with cancer and analyse the related intrinsic and extrinsic factors. DESIGN: A prospective study of people hospitalised with cancer at the Catalan Institute of Oncology. METHODS: Intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors related to the fall have been studied. The data were gathered from the clinical history and a specific adverse events notification programme and patients were followed during hospitalisation. RESULTS: A total of 117 of 6090 patients admitted during the period of study were included, with an accumulated incidence of falls of 0.019. Mean age 63.4 years (SD 11.5) and 65.5% men. Patients with lung cancer accounted for 25.6% of the total number of falls, followed by haematological cancer at 24.8%. Most falls were without consequences (71.8%). The data reveal that people hospitalised with cancer are at greater risk of falling, even though the accumulated incidence observed in the present study is low.