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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The development of fear of falling among community-living older women
— predisposing factors and subsequent fall events | | Author(s) | Susan L Murphy, Joel A Dubin, Thomas M Gill |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 58A, no 10, October 2003 |
| Pages | pp 943-947 |
| Source | www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Older women ; Falls ; Living in the community ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Fear of falling is a common and potentially modifiable health problem in older people. The participants evaluated in this study were 313 women aged 72+, members of the Project Safety cohort living in New Haven CT, and who had a fear of falling. They underwent a comprehensive in-home assessment, and were reassessed for fear of falling 1 year later. 84 participants (27%) developed a fear of falling at 1 year, and 77 (25%) experienced at least one fall event. The predisposing factors for developing a fear of falling included: age 80 years or older; visual impairment; a sedentary lifestyle; and no available emotional support. The occurrence of a subsequent fall event was also significantly associated with developing a fear of falling, although this effect was observed only in participants who had at least one predisposing factor. 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. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040406205 A |
| Classmark | BD: OLF: K4: 3J: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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