Effectiveness of the Montpellier Falls Clinic in Preventing InjuRiEs (EMPIRE)

Effectiveness of the Montpellier Falls Clinic in Preventing Injuries in Older High-risk Adults

A falls prevention clinic opened in Montpellier (France) in 2015. The objective of the project is to evaluate whether the tailored multifactorial programme delivered in this real practice setting by a geriatrician, a podiatrist, a physiotherapist, and a occupational therapist would help prevent injuries in high-risk older patients using a 6-month pre-post intervention analysis.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Falls
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Multidisciplinary fall risk and geriatric comprehensive assessment

Detailed Description

The Montpellier falls prevention clinic is a referral-based clinic specialized in the prevention of falls and fractures among patients aged 65+ (http://www.chu-montpellier.fr/fr/crepc/). The FPC that opened in 2015 is a member of the European Commission in its European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) A2 action plan. The main mission of the clinic is to identify the underlying causes of the patients' falls, and to address modifiable risk factors in collaboration with family physicians in order to prevent injurious falls.

Based on a geriatric assessment performed by a geriatrician, a podologist, a occupational therapist, and a physiotherapist, the likely diagnoses and recommendations are notified in the medical report that is handed over to the patient or the caregiver for the patient's GP, along with the prescriptions, and sent also by mail to the GP. Recommendations remain under the GP's control with the possibility of another consultation if needed.

All patients admitted to the FPC are reassessed by phone at 3 months to register falls and injuries, and at 6 months to register falls and injuries, assess fear of falling, mobility and ability to perform activities of daily living, and satisfaction for the programme, and list proposed measures effectively applied.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 160

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Montpellier, France, 34295
    • UHMontpellier

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 65 years and older (Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All patients aged 65 or older with a history in the previous year of recurrent falls, or of a fall associated with a balance, gait, or muscle strength problem referred to the Montpellier falls prevention clinic over a 11-month period

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

All patients aged 65 or older with a history in the previous year of recurrent falls, or of a fall associated with a balance, gait, or muscle strength problem referred to the Montpellier falls prevention clinic

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients unable to walk 3 metres with or without an assistive device
• patients expected to live for less than 6 months based on the geriatricians' expert opinion

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Serious falls	Falls with serious injuries are those that cause fractures, head injuries requiring admission to hospital, joint dislocations, sprains accompanied by reduced physical function, other non-specified serious joint injuries, and lacerations requiring sutures.Falls with moderate injuries are those that result in bruising, sprains, cuts, abrasions, or reduction in physical function for at least three days or in medical hel	1 day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants with injurious falls	A fall is defined as an "unexpected event in which the participant comes to rest on the ground, floor, or other lower level	1 day
fear of falling: Fear of falling assessed with a questionnaire to determine the number of patients not concerned, a little concerned, quite concerned or very concerned with a fear of falling	Fear of falling assessed with a questionnaire to determine the number of patients not concerned, a little concerned, quite concerned or very concerned with a fear of falling	1 day
mobility :Mobility assessed using a questionnaire	Mobility assessed using a questionnaire to determine the number of patients who, for both outside and inside displacements, do not walk, walk with a wheelchair, walk with a walker, walk with a stick, walk with a human help, or walk independently	1 day
ADLs	ADLs	1 day
satisfaction with the programme using a questionnaire	Satisfaction with the programme using a questionnaire to determine the number of patients very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very satisfied for 6 parameters including the quality of the information provided, the suitability of recommendations, the duration of the visit, the competence of the team, and the welcoming conditions	1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Montpellier

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 2, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 8, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): November 9, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 9, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 8, 2018
• Last Verified: November 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: fear of falling; geriatric assessment; injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: RECHMPL18_0393

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: NC

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No