Aging is a worldwide phenomenon, which has raised the need for the world to create a strategy to keep these individuals more active and face the epidemiological changes resulting from this phenomenon. The fall, which is described as an abrupt phenomenon, has the potential to cause great harm to the elderly individual. Therefore, this stands out as an object of investigation of vital importance for the health of the elderly.

To investigate the occurrence of falls and associated factors in the elderly population of the city of Eunápolis, BA.

This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study with a quantitative approach using sociodemographic, epidemiological, and self-reported functionality questionnaires that were adapted according to the questionnaires used in the Longitudinal Study of Elderly Health (ELSI Brasil). To this end, 25 elderly people were interviewed, who were approached in a coexistence group for the elderly at a Basic Health Unit in the Urbis I neighborhood of the municipality of Eunápolis-BA. Data were organized and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and Software R. For the analysis of factors associated with the outcome, a theoretical determination model was built with the three hierarchical blocks.

Most of the sample consisted of women, who had some functional limitation, where 40% had already suffered a fall. It was possible to observe an association between the number of diseases reported by the elderly and the presence of falls, and among individuals who were affected by falls, the most frequent place of occurrence was the residence.

It is possible to infer from the data generated by this study that age alone does not correlate with the occurrence of falls, however, the more diseases the elderly individual has, the more likely they are to suffer a fall. The study also sheds light on care for the environment where this elderly person is inserted, since falls that occurred at home were more frequent.

This study can help in understanding the risk factors for the occurrence of falls in the elderly, in addition to pointing to a possible focus of intervention, which is the environment where the elderly are inserted.