Home injury among elderly population in Malaysia

Background: In Malaysia, injury is one of the leading causes of death and disability. The aims of this study are to determine the prevalence of home injury and its associated factors among elderly population in Malaysia. Methods: This study is a cross sectional population-based survey design using two-stage stratified random sampling of households. Data was collected using a validated questionnaire by face to face interview and analysed using SPSS version 19.0. Results: The overall prevalence of home injuries among elderly population aged 60 and above was 5.3% (95% CI: 4.3-6.5), out of an estimated population of 107,035. The prevalence was higher among females, rural dwellers, those 80 years old and above, ‘others’ ethnicity and elderly from medium family income. Kitchen was the most common place of injury (20.4% [95% CI: 12.4-31.5]). The most common cause of injury was falls (42.2% [95% CI: 32.0-53.2]) and self-neglect was the main contributing factor (47.0% [95% CI: 36.6-57.6]). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that women (aOR=1.801, p<0.001), elderly aged 70-79 years old (aOR: 2.049, p<0.001) and elderly aged 80 years and above (aOR: 2.485, p<0.001) were more likely to sustain a home injury. Conclusion: Home injuries among elderly are indeed a growing public health problem which deserves more attention than being currently given. There is a need for educational and intervention programmes to increase the awareness and understanding of elderly safety and injury prevention in Malaysia.