Prevalence and factors associated with psychological distress among older adults admitted to hospitals after fall injuries in Vietnam

Abstract

Although psychological distress is one of the major health issues among aging populations, little is known about how this challenge affects older patients after falls. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Thai Binh province, Vietnam, to explore the prevalence of psychological distress and associated factors among 405 older patients after falls. The 6-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6) was used to measure psychological distress. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were collected using a structured questionnaire. Multivariate Tobit and Logistic regressions were used to determine factors associated with psychological distress. The prevalence of psychological distress among participants was 26.2%. Patients who were alone or older had a higher likelihood of psychological distress. Patients with a history of falls in the past 12 months were more likely to suffer from psychological distress (OR = 2.87, 95%CI = 1.74; 4.72). Having two and three comorbidities was significantly associated with greater K6 scores and a higher risk of psychological distress. This study underlined a significantly high prevalence of psychological distress among older patients after falls. Providing frequent mental health monitoring, screening, treatment, and facilitating social engagements are important implications to improve the mental health of this population. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.