The Professional Geriatric Care Manager’s Blog

Inner Ear Problems and Risk for Falls

69 million adults over the age of forty are up to 12 times more likely to suffer a serious fall because of inner ear dysfunction that affects their balance and makes them dizzy.  A Johns Hopkins study of this subject found that approximately 22 million of these adults had no idea of their vulnerability as they have had no previous incidents of vestibular disorders, dizziness or sudden falls to suggest they had any problem.

The study revealed that those people who were asymptomatic were six times more likely to suffer a fatal fall than those who had a healthy sense of balance and those who were symptomatic increased their risk 12 times.

Each year more than 1.5 million visits to the emergency room in the United States occur related to falls.  Falls are among the leading cause of death in the elderly with an estimated 13,000 senior deaths occuring per year.

“Vestibular imbalances need to be taken seriously because falls can be fatal and injuries can be painful, leading to long hospital stays and resulting in significant loss in quality of life ” says Lloyd B. Minor, MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the study published in the May 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine.  He says that recent government reports estimate that fatal falls cost the US Medicare program nearly 1 billion dollars in hospital charges and those with broken bones cost an additional 19 billion dollars.

This study found that 85% of men and women over the age of 80 had an imbalance problem and people with diabetes are 70% more likely to suffer from vestibular damage.  The study revealed that balance testing should be part of basic primary care and that all physicians should be screening and monitoring their patients for vestibular dysfunction so that preventative measures can be taken to prevent falls.

Dr Minor added that physical rehabilitation exercise programs can help people with vestibular dysfunction.  Balance and walking exercising can be used to train the brain to compensate for inner-ear deficits and dizziness.

Preventative steps can be taken in the home to reduce the risk of falls such as installing guard rails along stairs and hallways where a fall might occur, ensuring that lighting is adequate and removing throw rugs.

You can go to the Johns Hopkins Center for Hearing and Balance site to view a short video about this study.

Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management completes a fall risk assessment and 130 point home safety evaluation as part of their initial assessment.  To learn more about the assessment process, call our Ridgewood, NJ office at (201) 857-5283.