ORIGINAL ARTICLE The fall rate of older community-dwelling cancer patients Martine T. E. Puts & Johanne Monette & Veronique Girre & Christina Wolfson & Michèle Monette & Gerald Batist & Howard Bergman Received: 17 January 2012 / Accepted: 13 August 2012 / Published online: 1 September 2012 # Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract Purpose Little is known about the incidence of falls in cancer patients receiving cancer treatment. The aims were to explore the number of falls older adults report in the 6 months after cancer diagnosis, and if those with a fall were more frail than those who did not fall. Methods Secondary data analysis of a prospective pilot study that recruited patients aged 65 and older with a new cancer diagnosis. At each interview (baseline, 3- and 6- month follow-up), participants were asked if they had a fall in the previous 3 months. The frailty markers and functional status were obtained at baseline, 3- and 6-month follow-up. Chi-square and t tests were used to compare those who had a fall to those who had no fall. Univariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the association between sociodemographic and health characteristics and reporting a fall. Results Seventeen participants (18.7 %) reported one or more falls in the first 6 months after cancer diagnosis. Fifteen participants reported one or more falls in the 3 months prior to the cancer diagnosis. Those who had a fall and those with no fall were not different in terms of health and functioning. None of the sociodemographic and health characteristics including the frailty markers were associated with a fall. Conclusion A fall is common in cancer patients. More research is needed to examine the risk factors for a fall in older adults receiving cancer treatment. Keywords Falls . Frail elderly . Geriatric oncology . Cancer . Cancer treatment Introduction A fall can have serious impact on the health and functional status of an older adult. In this paper, we will use the World Health Organization (WHO)’ s definition of a fall “inadver- tently coming to rest on the ground, floor, or other lower level, excluding intentional change in position to rest in furniture, wall, or other objects” (WHO 2007). According to the WHO, a third of all adults aged 65 years and over falls at least once a year [2]. With increasing age and frailty, the incidence of a fall increases, and the fall can also lead more often to serious injury such as functional decline, institutionalization, hospi- talization, and decreased quality of life [1, 2]. M. T. E. Puts (*) Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Suite 130, Toronto, ON, Canada M5T 1P8 e-mail: martine.puts@utoronto.ca M. T. E. Puts : J. Monette : V. Girre : M. Monette : H. Bergman Solidage Research Group on Frailty and Aging, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada J. Monette : H. Bergman Division of Geriatric Medicine, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada V. Girre Department of Oncology-Hematology, Centre Hospitalier Departemental, La Roche sur Yon, France C. Wolfson Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada J. Monette : G. Batist : H. Bergman Department of Oncology, Segal Cancer Center, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada Support Care Cancer (2013) 21:775–783 DOI 10.1007/s00520-012-1579-4