ORs were generally higher for recurrent fallers than for all fallers .
This meta- analysis provides comprehensive evidence -based assessment of risk factors for falls in older people , confirming their multifactorial etiology .
Some nonspecific indicators of high baseline risk were also strong predictors of the risk of falling
BACKGROUND Falls are the main cause of accidental death in persons aged 65 years or older .
Genetic factors and susceptibility to falls in older women.
OBJECTIVES To determine whether genetic influences account for individual differences in susceptibility to falls in older women . DESIGN Prospect i ve twin cohort study . SETTING Research laboratory and residential environment . PARTICIPANTS Ninety-nine monozygotic ( MZ ) and 114 dizygotic ( DZ ) female twin pairs aged 63 to 76 from the Finnish Twin Cohort study . MEASUREMENTS The participants  recorded their  falls on a calendar  for an average+/-st and ard deviation of 344+/-41 days . Reported falls were verified via telephone interview , and circumstances , causes , and consequences of the fall were asked about . RESULTS The total number of falls was 434 , of which 188 were injurious ; 91 participants had two or more falls . Casewise concordance was 0.61 ( 95 % confidence interval (CI)=0.49 - 0.72 ) for MZ twins and 0.49 ( 95 % CI=0.37 - 0.62 ) for DZ twins for at least one fall , 0.38 ( 95 % CI=0.23 - 0.53 ) for MZ and 0.33 ( 95 % CI=0.17 - 0.50 ) for DZ twins for at least one injurious fall , and 0.43 ( 95 % CI=0.26 - 0.60 ) for MZ and 0.36 ( 95 % CI=0.17 - 0.55 ) for DZ twins for recurrent falls . On average , the proportion of familial influences accounting for the individual differences in susceptibility to at least one fall was 30 % and to recurrent falls was 40 % ; nongenetic familial and nonfamilial factors alone accounted for susceptibility to at least one injurious fall . CONCLUSION In community-dwelling older women , familial factors underlie the risk of falling but not the risk of injurious falls
ORs were generally higher for recurrent fallers than for all fallers .
This meta- analysis provides comprehensive evidence -based assessment of risk factors for falls in older people , confirming their multifactorial etiology .
Some nonspecific indicators of high baseline risk were also strong predictors of the risk of falling
BACKGROUND Falls are the main cause of accidental death in persons aged 65 years or older .