Centre for Policy on Ageing



Recreational physical activity levels in healthy older women — the importance of fear of falling
Author(s)	David G Bruce, Amanda Devine, Richard L Prince
Journal title	Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 50, no 1, January 2002
Pages	pp 84-89
Keywords	Exercise ; Good Health ; Older women ; At risk ; Falls ; Australia.
Annotation	1,500 older Australian women aged 70-85 selected at random from the electoral roll participated in this study. Subjects had low levels of physical and cognitive impairments. 24.1% of the group was obese (body mass index, BMI >30). 26% of the women did not participate in recreational physical activity; 39% participated in sufficient activity to gain probable health benefits. Although those women who did not participate in recreational activities were most likely to report fear of falling (45.5%), it was common in the group as a whole (33.9%), including the most active women (27%). Subgroup analysis suggested that fear of falls affected activity levels at a pre-disability stage in women with mildly impaired mobility. Fear of falling is an important psychological barrier that may need to be overcomes in programmes that attempt to improve activity levels in older women. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-020701204 A
Classmark	CEA: CD: BD: CA3: OLF: 7YA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.