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The Development of Fear of Falling Among Community-Living Older Women: Predisposing Factors and Subsequent Fall Events

¹ University of Michigan, Institute of Gerontology, Ann Arbor.
² Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
³ Dorothy Adler Geriatric Assessment Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.

Background. Fear of falling is a common and potentially modifiable health problem among older persons. However, relatively little is known about who develops fear of falling or why.

Methods. From a representative cohort of community-living persons aged 72 years or older, we evaluated 313 women who had no fear of falling. These participants underwent a comprehensive in-home assessment and were reassessed for fear of falling 1 year later. Fall events were ascertained monthly using a validated fall calendar.

Results. 84 (27%) participants developed fear of falling at 1 year and 77 (25%) participants experienced at least one fall event. The predisposing factors for developing fear of falling included age 80 years or older (adjusted relative risk 1.48; 95% confidence intervals 1.04–2.12), visual impairment (1.42; 1.01–2.00), a sedentary lifestyle (1.96; 1.35–2.84), and no available emotional support (2.64; 1.57–4.41). The occurrence of a subsequent fall event was also significantly associated with developing fear of falling (unadjusted relative risk 1.70; 1.18–2.45), although this effect was observed only among participants who had at least one predisposing factor.

Conclusions. Among community-living older women, fear of falling develops due to a combination of predisposing factors and subsequent fall events. Since many of the predisposing factors are related to fall risk, preventive efforts to reduce fear of falling may also decrease the likelihood of falling.

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