Clinical Research Directory

Wearable Airbag Technology to Mitigate Falls in Individuals With High Fall Risk

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a smart airbag system that detects and mitigates fall-related impact in individuals with high fall risk.

The Rhabdomyolysis Evaluation in the Emergency Department (REED) Score

One in three adults over 65 fall annually, with one in five remaining on the floor for greater than one hour, which is referred to as a long lie. Pressure on the National Health Service has resulted in extended stays in the Emergency Department (ED) (sometimes longer than 12 hours) and prolonged ambulance response times. This impacts the older adults who have fallen and remain on the floor. This project aims to develop a risk prediction model (RPM) for use within the ED to understand which older adults (60 years or older) who fall over and remain on the floor for longer than one hour ("long lie") and develop rhabdomyolysis (a serious condition where muscle breaks down and releases substances into the blood that can damage the kidneys) will develop poor outcomes and need admission to hospital for treatment and which patients can be safely discharged home. Aim: To develop a RPM to identify which older adults who have a fall and a long lie and attend the ED develop poor outcomes such as Acute kidney Injury (AKI) \[kidneys suddenly stop working properly\], needing kidney replacement therapy (KRT) \[a treatment that helps kidneys that aren't working properly do their job of cleaning the blood\] and mortality \[death\]. Objectives: 1. Abstract patient level data (e.g. biochemical, demographic, situational, medical history, medication history) from medical records combined with outcomes to understand which variables lead to poor outcomes such as AKI, needing KRT and mortality. 2. Analyse the data using a statistical package (Statistical Package for Social Sciences \[SPSS\]) to develop a RPM with good discriminative abilities \[how well the score can tell high-risk from low-risk patients\]. 3. Demonstrate the ability of the RPM to identify which patients need admission to hospital with treatment and which patients can be safely discharged home.

New Clinical Rehabilitation Approach for the Management of Falls Risks

Accidental falls in older adults are one of the world's major pubic health problem, because of their strong association with injuries and mortality rates. In Quebec, falls are responsible for a high rate of hospitalization (more than 1800 emergency department visits every day) and deaths (more than 10,000 in recent years). Preventing falls is therefore a key mission for health professionals. This research program aims to develop a new clinical approach to the rehabilitation management of the older with a neuro-musculoskeletal disorder and a risk of falling. This program is part of a new partnership project between UQAC and specialized geriatric services at the CIUSSS Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean (La Baie site). These geriatric services admit more than 400 new patients per year, representing a large pool of participants for the new program's development. Specifically, this program has 4 phases: 1) Create a clinical profile of patients in rehabilitation care from specialized geriatric services (ex: reasons for consultation, neuro-musculoskeletal disorders, rates and causes of falls, etc.); 2) to diagnose functional deficits of these patients on different dimensions of functional and physical evaluations, using standardized tests and high-tech instruments (ex: platform of force); 3) determine the effectiveness of a new exercise intervention program (OTAGO) for falls prevention; and 4) Measure client and professional team satisfaction as well as long-term impact of this new approach used to prevent falls. The most significant impact of this new program will be to reduce public health expenditure for care of older adults with balance disorder and risk for falls; and therefore, be implanted in other CIUSSS institutions from Quebec.

Keep Exercising & Stay Steady: Development and Feasibility of a Digital Health Intervention to Encourage Exercise Maintenance After Fall Prevention Exercise Programmes End.

Falls and broken bones are a common health problem faced by older adults. Worldwide, one third of adults aged over 65 years old, and half of adults aged over 80 years, fall each year. One in five falls in older adults result in hospitalisation and one in twenty cause broken bones. Each year, 300,000 older adults break a bone following a fall which costs the UK £4.4billion in healthcare costs. Broken hip bones are the most serious outcome of a fall. One in twenty older adults will die and one in five need care assisted living following a hip fracture. Muscles and bones become weaker after 50 years of age which increases an older adults' risk of falling and breaking a bone. Falls prevention programmes that include muscle strength and balance exercise improves physical function and helps to prevent falls and broken bones in older adults. However, many older adults stop doing exercise and become less physically active after falls prevention programmes end. Gains in balance and muscle strength are lost and falls risk increase if people don't keep exercising. More people are reaching older ages and becoming less active. Therefore, this problem will worsen unless healthcare practices become better at preventing falls and broken bones in older adults. The research ambition is to create a technology supported home exercise programme that encourages older adults to keep exercising after falls prevention programmes end. This will help to prevent future falls and broken bones which will allow more older adults to continue living independently. The home exercise programme will benefit older adults everyday lives by helping them to maintain good physical health and improve their ability to perform daily tasks without the fear of falling. Older people at risk of falls, clinicians, and public members will be invited to form a research advisory group. The group will work with the research team to create the home exercise programme and research plan and advise how best to communicate the research to the public. Diversity within the research advisory group will be important to help shape the research to meet the diverse views and needs of the many different people affected by falls and broken bones. We will target the research to help older adults with the greatest health needs. Older adults living in deprived neighbourhoods have the greatest risk of falling and dying following a broken bone. The home exercise programme will be researched in older adults attending falls prevention programmes in the most deprived regions of England. This will help us to explore whether the programme could encourage the continuation of exercise in older adults who need it most.