TY - JOUR
T1 - Gait speed and risk assessment for falls among men aged 80 years and older
T2 - A prospective cohort study in Taiwan
AU - Liang, C. K.
AU - Chou, M. Y.
AU - Peng, L. N.
AU - Liao, M. C.
AU - Chu, C. L.
AU - Lin, Y. T.
AU - Chen, L. K.
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was supported by the Veteran Affairs Council , R.O.C (Grant number: VAC101-C1 and VAC102-C1 ) and all authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study group thanks all staff in the Gangshan Veterans Home for their valuable assistance in obtaining the information. Ethical approval : The whole study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan.
PY - 2014/10/1
Y1 - 2014/10/1
N2 - Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of adding gait speed to the history of falls in predicting falls among men aged 80 years and older in Taiwan.Methods: This prospective cohort study recruited 230 ambulatory men aged 80 years and older in 2012 and followed for 12 months. In addition to demographic characteristics and history of falls, a comprehensive geriatric assessment was performed for all study subjects. Gait speed was obtained by the 6-m walk and three different cut-offs (< 0.5, ≤ 0.8 and < 1.0 m/s) were tested in improving the ability of predicting subsequent falls by using history of falls.Results: Among all subjects (mean age: 85.5 ± 4.0 years), 26.1% (60/230) reported falls during follow-up period. Univariate analysis showed that polypharmacy, urinary incontinence, history of falls, pain, poorer baseline physical function, depressive mood, and gait speed < 0.5 m/s were associated with falls. Logistic regression showed that history of falls (OR: 4.255, 95% CI 2.089-8.667; P < 0.001), pain (OR: 2.674, 95% CI 1.332-5.369; P = 0.006), older age (OR: 1.128, 95% CI 1.031-1.234; P = 0.008), and slow gait speed (OR: 2.964, 95% CI 1.394-6.300; P = 0.005) were all independent risk factors for falls. Fast gait speed (defined as ≥ 1 m/s) was a protective factor for falls, even among subjects with history of falls, but slow gait speed (defined as < 0.5 m/s) was an independent risk factor even among subjects without history of falls. Conclusions: Combined history of falls and gait speed is a simple and effective tool in risk assessment of falls among older old population. ≤ 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS and European Union Geriatric Medicine Society. All rights reserved.
AB - Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of adding gait speed to the history of falls in predicting falls among men aged 80 years and older in Taiwan.Methods: This prospective cohort study recruited 230 ambulatory men aged 80 years and older in 2012 and followed for 12 months. In addition to demographic characteristics and history of falls, a comprehensive geriatric assessment was performed for all study subjects. Gait speed was obtained by the 6-m walk and three different cut-offs (< 0.5, ≤ 0.8 and < 1.0 m/s) were tested in improving the ability of predicting subsequent falls by using history of falls.Results: Among all subjects (mean age: 85.5 ± 4.0 years), 26.1% (60/230) reported falls during follow-up period. Univariate analysis showed that polypharmacy, urinary incontinence, history of falls, pain, poorer baseline physical function, depressive mood, and gait speed < 0.5 m/s were associated with falls. Logistic regression showed that history of falls (OR: 4.255, 95% CI 2.089-8.667; P < 0.001), pain (OR: 2.674, 95% CI 1.332-5.369; P = 0.006), older age (OR: 1.128, 95% CI 1.031-1.234; P = 0.008), and slow gait speed (OR: 2.964, 95% CI 1.394-6.300; P = 0.005) were all independent risk factors for falls. Fast gait speed (defined as ≥ 1 m/s) was a protective factor for falls, even among subjects with history of falls, but slow gait speed (defined as < 0.5 m/s) was an independent risk factor even among subjects without history of falls. Conclusions: Combined history of falls and gait speed is a simple and effective tool in risk assessment of falls among older old population. ≤ 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS and European Union Geriatric Medicine Society. All rights reserved.
KW - Fall
KW - Gait speed
KW - History of falls
KW - Men
KW - Oldest old
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908231744&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eurger.2014.06.034
DO - 10.1016/j.eurger.2014.06.034
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84908231744
SN - 1878-7649
VL - 5
SP - 298
EP - 302
JO - European Geriatric Medicine
JF - European Geriatric Medicine
IS - 5
ER -