Despite extensive preventive efforts, falls continue to be a major source of morbidity and mortality among elderly. Real-time detection of falls and their urgent communication to a telecare center may enable rapid medical assistance, thus increasing the sense of security of the elderly and reducing some of the negative consequences of falls. Many different approaches have been explored to automatically detect a fall using inertial sensors. Although previously published algorithms report high sensitivity (SE) and high specificity (SP), they have usually been tested on simulated falls performed by healthy volunteers. We recently collected acceleration data during a number of real-world falls among a patient population with a high-fall-risk as part of the SensAction-AAL European project. The aim of the present study is to benchmark the performance of thirteen published fall-detection algorithms when they are applied to the database of 29 real-world falls. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic comparison of fall detection algorithms tested on real-world falls. We found that the SP average of the thirteen algorithms, was (mean±std) 83.0%±30.3% (maximum value = 98%). The SE was considerably lower (SE = 57.0%±27.3%, maximum value = 82.8%), much lower than the values obtained on simulated falls. The number of false alarms generated by the algorithms during 1-day monitoring of three representative fallers ranged from 3 to 85. The factors that affect the performance of the published algorithms, when they are applied to the real-world falls, are also discussed. These findings indicate the importance of testing fall-detection algorithms in real-life conditions in order to produce more effective automated alarm systems with higher acceptance. Further, the present results support the idea that a large, shared real-world fall database could, potentially, provide an enhanced understanding of the fall process and the information needed to design and evaluate a high-performance fall detector.

We investigated the relation of overweight and obesity with cancer in a population-based cohort of more than 145 000 Austrian adults over an average of 9.9 years. Incident cancers (n=6241) were identified through the state cancer registry. Using Cox proportional-hazards models adjusted for smoking and occupation, increases in relative body weight in men were associated with colon cancer (hazard rate (HR) ratio 2.48; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15, 5.39 for body mass index (BMI) > or =35 kg m(-2)) and pancreatic cancer (HR 2.34, 95% CI: 1.17, 4.66 for BMI>30 kg m(-2)) compared to participants with normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg m(-2)). In women, there was a weak positive association between increasing BMI and all cancers combined, and strong associations with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (HR 2.86, 95% CI: 1.49, 5.49 for BMI> or =30 kg m(-2)) and cancers of the uterine corpus (HR 3.93, 95% CI: 2.35, 6.56 for BMI> or =35 kg m(-2)). Incidence of breast cancer was positively associated with high BMI only after age 65 years. These findings provide further evidence that overweight is associated with the incidence of several types of cancer.

Background: Methods: Results: Conclusions:

Background: The role of serum uric acid (SUA) as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains controversial, and little is known about its prognostic importance for mortality from congestive heart failure (CHF) and stroke. Few large-scale epidemiologic studies with sufficient follow-up have addressed the association of SUA and CVD mortality in apparently healthy men across a wide age range.Methods: A cohort of 83 683 Austrian men (mean age, 41.6 years) was prospectively followed for a median of 13.6 years. We used Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for established risk factors to evaluate SUA as an independent predictor for CVD mortality.Results: The highest quintile of SUA concentration (>398.81 μmol/L) was significantly related to mortality from CHF (P = 0.03) and stroke (P <0.0001); adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for the highest vs lowest quintiles of SUA were 1.51 (1.03–2.22) and 1.59 (1.23–2.04), respectively. SUA was not associated, however, with mortality from acute, subacute, or chronic forms of coronary heart disease (CHD) after adjustment for potential confounding factors (P = 0.12). Age was a significant effect modifier for the relation of SUA to fatal CHF (P = 0.05), with markedly stronger associations found in younger individuals.Conclusions: Our study demonstrates for the first time in a large prospective male cohort that SUA is independently related to mortality from CHF and stroke. Although increased SUA is not necessarily a causal risk factor, our results suggest the clinical importance of monitoring and intervention based on the presence of an increased SUA concentration, especially because SUA is routinely measured.

It is assumed that nursing homes are the setting with the highest incidence of hip fractures. This observation is, however, based on very little data. The aim of this study was to analyze hip fracture rates and the associated excess mortality in a large nursing home population. A cohort of >69,000 women and men newly admitted to German nursing homes were used to calculate sex- and age-specific incidence rates of hip fractures. To calculate excess mortality, a retrospective cohort study was conducted. To each patient with a hip fracture (n = 4342), four residents without hip fracture (n = 17,368) were matched by sex, age, and level of care (measure for the need of care). Hazard regression models were applied. During 91,850 person-years, 4342 hip fractures were observed. The crude incidence rates for hip fractures were 50.8/1000 person-years in women and 32.7/1000 person-years in men. The incidence rates increased with increasing age categories and were highest in the first months after admission to the nursing home. Increasing care need reduced the risk of hip fracture. Mortality in patients with a hip fracture was increased (women: hazard rate ratio for the first 3 mo after fracture, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.59–1.86; men: hazard ratio, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.80–2.53), but excess mortality was limited to the first months after injury. Data are presented for hip fracture rates and excess mortality after a hip fracture. Our results have implications on the timing and the allocation of specific measures for hip fracture prevention.