Falls in older adults are the result of a complex interaction between intrinsic, extrinsic, and behavioral factors. Although it is difficult to separate these factors, some studies indicate that environmental risk factors are present in approximately 40% of falls, but there is still a gap in these real factors.

To verify the association between environmental risk factors for falls in older adult Brazilians.

Prospective cohort study, being one of the arms of a larger study “Prevalence of falls in the older adults: Intrinsic, extrinsic and behavioral factors”. The study aimed to follow up with 400 patients, both sexes, aged over 60 years and from different regions of Brazil, who had access to the online questionnaire through a link and agreed to participate in the research. The questionnaire had items related to environmental factors in older adults falls. The environmental assessment was carried out using the Home Fast Brazil self-application instrument. An analysis was performed with the Shapiro-Wilk test, which showed that the data were non-parametric, and thus the data were presented descriptively by the median and interquartile range and the environmental data with nominal variables. significance level p<0.05 was adopted.

405 individuals were evaluated, 39.5% (n=160) (p<0.446) characterized as fallers, so the sample of fallers consisted of 39% (n=113) female (p< 0.882), an aged median of 67 (63-73) years. It was observed that falls have a higher incidence with tripping 100% (n=67) (p<0.01), slipping 100% (n=43) (p<0.01), loss of balance 100%(n=37) (p< 0.01), acute pain 100% (n=2) (p<0.01), leg weakness 100% (n=2) (p<0.01), dizziness 100% (n=4) (p<0.01), knees buckled 100% (n=5) (p<0.01). Of the individuals who reported falls, the reasons were 45.83% (n=88) due to the bathroom being slippery when wet (p <0.03), even if they had adaptations in their home such as a toilet of adequate size 38.15% (n=145) (p<0.04) and grab bar in the bathroom in 47.91% (n=46) (p<0.04).

We found that the incidence of falls was due to the bathroom being slippery due to the wet floor and that most have adaptations in their homes due to the fear of falling. This makes us reflect that even with adaptations, it gives a false sense of security.

With the knowledge of environmental risk factors such as wet bathrooms, it is necessary to supervise the hygiene of these older adults.