SynthesisAge and ageing2024
The association between delirium and falls in older adults in the community: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Age and ageing, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exergaming Interventions for Preventing Falls and Injurious Falls in Older People: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.JMIR aging · 2026Pooled it
- Prioritization Patterns of Nurses in the Management of a Patient With Delirium: Results of a Q-Methodology Study.Research in nursing & health · 2025Pooled it
- Explainable AI reveals temporal risk pathways in fall prediction: Extracting clinical insights from multi-horizon machine learning models.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Delirium and in-hospital falls in older adults: factors associated with fall occurrence and number of falls.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Development of a Nomogram-Based Prediction Model for Postoperative Delirium in Patients After Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Nursing open · 2026Article
- Understanding Physiotherapy Within Older Adult Inpatient Mental Health Wards: Tailoring Physiotherapy Pathways in a Complex Environment.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Delirium after surgery: a retrospective study of predictors, complications, and screening patterns in the national surgical quality improvement program.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveSystematically review and critically appraise the evidence for the association between delirium and falls in community-dwelling adults aged ≥60 years.
methodsWe searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CINAHL and Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews databases in April 2023. Standard methods were used to screen, extract data, assess risk of bias (using Newcastle-Ottawa scale), provide a narrative synthesis and, where appropriate, conduct meta-analysis.
resultsWe included 8 studies, with at least 3505 unique participants. Five found limited evidence for an association between delirium and subsequent falls: one adjusted study showed an increase in falls (risk ratio 6.66; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.16-20.53), but the evidence was low certainty. Four non-adjusted studies found no clear effect. Three studies (one with two subgroups treated separately) found some evidence for an association between falls and subsequent delirium: meta-analysis of three adjusted studies showed an increase in delirium (pooled odds ratio 2.01; 95% CI 1.52-2.66); one subgroup of non-adjusted data found no clear effect. Number of falls and fallers were reported in the studies. Four studies and one subgroup were at high risk of bias and one study had some concerns.
conclusionsWe found limited evidence for the association between delirium and falls. More methodologically rigorous research is needed to understand the complex relationship and establish how and why this operates bidirectionally. Studies must consider confounding factors such as dementia, frailty and comorbidity in their design, to identify potential modifying factors involved. Clinicians should be aware of the potential relationship between these common presentations.
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