Introduction:

the study of accidents in the elderly is an important component to guarantee the quality of life of these people, in Cuba it is the sixth cause of death for the elderly; which is also identified in the health sector.

Objective:

to determine the causes of accidents in the elderly in a doctor's office at Hermanos Cruz University Polyclinic, during September 2016 to February 2017.

Methods:

an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional research was carried out, where the target group studied was constituted by the 345 old people belonging to the chosen doctor's office. An intentional sampling was included; it consisted of 55 old people who had some type of accident. Empirical methods and descriptive statistics techniques were used, along with the application of Chi-square test.

Results:

the use of psychopharmaceutical drugs or other central nervous system depressants with osteomyoarticular diseases affected mainly female sex; male sex was most affected by factors associated with visual deficit and balance disorder predominantly, and in terms of extrinsic risk factors its percentage was higher in male sex. The high risk of accidents was confirmed in female sex. The highest frequency of accidents was due to falls. The level of knowledge concerning accidents was low for the elderly and their relatives.

Conclusions:

the classification of the degree of risk was evidenced, accidents predominated in female sex and among the causes were the falls and the low level of knowledge concerning accidents in the elderly and their relatives as well.

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