Abstract
Background: Recurrent fallers are at especially high risk for injuries.Objective: to study whether tests of physical performance are associated with recurrent falls.Subjects: a total of 10,998 men aged 65 years or above. Methods: Questionnaires evaluated falls sustained 12 months preceding testing of grip strength, timed stand, 6-m walk and 20-cm narrow walk test. Means with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) are reported. P < 0.01 is a statistically significant difference. Results: In comparison to both occasional fallers and non-fallers, recurrent fallers performed more poorly on all the physical ability tests (all P < 0.001). A score below -2 standard deviations (SDs) in the right-hand grip strength test was associated with an odds ratio of 2.4 (95% CI 1.7, 3.4) for having had recurrent falls compared with having had no fall and of 2.0 (95% CI 1.3, 3.4) for having had recurrent falls compared with having had an occasional fall. Conclusion: Low performance in physical ability tests are in elderly men associated with recurrent falls.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | afs104 |
Pages (from-to) | 740-746 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Age and Ageing |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2012 |
Keywords
- Falls
- Men
- Muscle
- Older people
- Physical performance tests
- Recurrent
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Aging
- Geriatrics and Gerontology