Background: Falls among elderly constitute a major public health issue of increasing magnitude. For the prevention of fall at population level, it is necessary to study risk factors among community-dwelling elderly people in the population. The aim of this explorative study is to show associations between falls and self-rated health, physical exercise, physical functioning and physical disorders in elderly men and women living in their own homes in urban areas in a high-income country.

Methods: The associations between reported falling during the previous year and factors such as physical functioning, physical disorders, exercise, and self-rated health were investigated in a case-control study. The study base included all men and women aged 75 years and older living in their own homes in two municipal districts, one in the Stockholm area and one in the south of Sweden, from October 2008 to March 2009. A questionnaire was developed, but with questions used in earlier studies.

Results: Of the 1243 who participated in the study, 434 (35%) reported that they had fallen at least once during the previous year, and 759 (61%) reported no falls at all during the same period. Of the fallers, 158 (36%) were men, and 276 (64%) women. Unsteady gait (log reg 1.38, 95% CI 1.09-1.75) and poor self-rated health (log reg 2.04, 95% CI 1.29-3.20) were associated with falls during the previous year.

Conclusion: The results from this study indicate that the most important factors related to falls are within physical functioning, and that there are differences between men and women regarding the strength in the associations, and regarding marital status and age.