Falls in the elderly occur due to urinary problems such as urinary incontinence, frequent urination, and nocturia, which are major risk factors. Falls in the elderly cause serious health problems such as traumatic brain injury, mobility impairment, and injury-related death and result in a decline in the elderly's quality of life. This study aimed to identify the relationship between the prevalence. of falls and lower urinary tract symptoms in community-dwelling male older adults in Jeju Province and provide basic data to prevent falls through lower urinary tract symptom management.

This cross-sectional survey study conducted secondary data analysis using raw data from the 2011 Community Health Survey. The research subjects were based on data from 565 male older adults aged 65 or older in Jeju province who participated in the 2011 Community Health Survey. The variables incorporated in this study encompassed a range of demographics, a history of falls, and lower urinary tract symptoms. SAS (version 9.2 for Windows) program was used. This data is a secondary analysis of public data and has not been reviewed by IRB.

The average age of 565 male subjects was 72.16±5.57 years, with 70.1% aged 65-74, 26.9% aged 75-84, and 3.0% aged 85 or older. Prostatic hyperplasia was diagnosed in 25.4%. The number of older men who experienced falls in the past year was 16.7%, which was reported to be 9.8% once, 2.5% twice, and 2.8% three times. Places in the house where falls occurred: 17.9% in the bathroom/bathtub, 21.4% in the living room/floor, 17.9% on the stairs, and 32.1% in other areas. The average score of lower urinary tract symptoms in men was 7.68±7.90, with the severity being mild at 61.2%, moderate at 30.1%, and severe at 8.7%. The scores for each lower urinary tract symptom, nocturia were 1.80±1.43, weak stream 1.26±1.71, incomplete emptying and frequency 1.06±1.54, intermittency 0.99±1.46 and urgency 0.88±1.45 (Table 1). The lower urinary tract symptoms score of the group that experienced falls was significantly higher than that of the group that did not experience falls (t = 3.57, p = 0.001) (Table 2).

From the results of this study, the lower urinary tract symptom score was significantly higher in the fall group of older males living in Jeju Province, so managing the urination problem well can be a preventive measure to prevent falls.

To develop a fall prevention program specialized for community-dwelling older adults, future research is needed to determine the relationship between falls and each symptom of lower urinary tract symptoms and urinary incontinence.

Noguchi N, Chan L, Cumming RG, Blyth FM, Naganathan V. A systematic review of the association between lower urinary tract            symptoms and falls, injuries, and fractures in community-dwelling older men. Aging Male. 2016;19(3):168-174.      https://doi.org/10.3109/13685538.2016.1169399
Kim SJ, Lee D, Park SG, Pak S, Lee YG, Cho ST. Benign prostatic hyperplasia and the risk of falls in older men: Insights from a      population-based study on geriatric morbid conditions. Int Neurourol J. 2024;28(1):44-51. https://doi.org/10.5213/inj.2448064.032
Liu PS, Huang HK, Ding DC. Association of lower urinary tract symptoms and hip fracture in adults aged = 50 years.PLoS One.    2021;16(3):e0246653. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0246653.