Original articleWhat Is the Relation Between Fear of Falling and Physical Activity in Older Adults?
Section snippets
Methods
Community-dwelling older adults were recruited from the registry of the University of Pittsburgh Claude D. Pepper Older Adults Independence Center to participate in a longitudinal study describing mobility. Efforts have been made to populate the registry with older adults who are representative of the local metropolitan area. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Pittsburgh, and all subjects provided informed consent to participate.
Results
The mean age of the older adults studied was 77.6 years, and almost three quarters of the subjects were women. About 40% of the subjects had fallen, and a similar proportion reported FOF. The mean SAFFE fear scores among those who were afraid of falling using the yes/no question was .65; among those who were not afraid of falling, the mean SAFFE fear score was .22 (F=24.5, P<.001). Physical function (LLFDI) was generally representative of healthy, independent adults (table 1).
In the total
Discussion
FOF and total amount of daily activity were weakly related in this sample, and the relation no longer existed when groups were stratified by either exercise status or functional status. Although this was an unexpected finding, the implications may be important. Self-reported or performance-based measures of function describe a person's capacity, whereas accelerometry used to record activity over a period of time measures what they actually do. FOF has the potential to limit both capacity and
Conclusions
FOF was related to physical function and only weakly related to daily PA in this group of community-dwelling older adults. When stratified by exercise and functional level, the relation of FOF to PA no longer existed. Self-reported physical function may describe a person's capacity to perform an activity, whereas recorded PA reflects what they actually do. Daily activity may include things that a person must do, despite reported fear. Clinicians who work with community-dwelling older adults
Supplier
- a.
ActiGraph accelerometer model GT1M; Actigraph, 49 E Chase St, Pensacola, FL 32502.
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Cited by (0)
Supported by a Health Resources Services Administration Geriatric Academic Career Award (award no. K01HP20478); a Paul Beeson Career Development Award (award no. K23 AG026766-01); and the Pittsburgh Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (grant no. P30 AG024827-01).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has conferred or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.