New Irish research suggests that falls are not just an issue for older people.

According to the findings, there has been a big increase in falls in midlife, specifically after the age of 40, and particularly in women.

Researchers in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) looked at data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), which is an ongoing large-scale study of ageing in Ireland. They also used similar data from the UK, the Netherlands and Australia.

Altogether, they looked at data from over 19,000 men and women aged between 40 and 64.

They found that the prevalence of falls starts to increase significantly after the age of 40 - by 9% in 40-44 year-olds, by 19% in 45-49 year-olds, by 21% in 50-54 year-olds, by 27% in 55-59 year olds and by 30% in 60-64 year-olds.

The researchers said that these findings indicate that middle-age may be a critical time for interventions designed to prevent falls.

They noted that one-third of older adults fall at least once a year, and this increases to half of all adults over the age of 80. This represents a major health and social challenge, as consequences can include serious injuries, an increased risk of requiring nursing home care, reduced social participation and a decline in independence.

Furthermore, the cost of falls is expected to exceed €1 billion by 2020.

"Researchers and doctors have always assumed that falls are a problem that only affect people above the age of 65. This study shows that the prevalence of falls is already quite high from the age of 50.

In fact, our research shows that there is a sharp increase in the prevalence of falls in women during midlife. This occurs at a time that we also see an increase in the prevalence of common risk factors for falls, such as balance problems, diabetes and arthritis," commented the study's lead author, Dr Geeske Peeters, of TCD.

The researchers pointed out that recommended strategies for the prevention of falls in older people are not effective enough.

"Current prevention strategies basically wait until people have developed risk factors and then try to make them go away. It may be better and more effective to prevent the risk factors, or to detect them at an early stage to reduce their consequences," Dr Peeters pointed out.

She said that the team in TCD is now working with its research colleagues in the Netherlands, Australia and the UK ‘to investigate whether there is scope to start prevention strategies before the age of 65 years'.

According to the study's senior author, TILDA director, Prof Rose Anne Kenny, who is also director of the Falls Unit in St James's Hospital, this research emphaises the importance of early prevention strategies.

"While falls can cause serious injury and result in disability, they also create fear of further falls. This is a well known phenomenon and from TILDA research, we know it is present in one in four people over 50.

"Those who have a fear of falling or have had a fall are most at risk of falls and should be targeted for strength and balance programmes and medication reviews - both of these strategies significantly reduce falls," she noted.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, PLOS ONE.