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Martins A1, Vaz B1
1IPC ESTeSC Coimbra Health School, Physiotherapy, Coimbra, Portugal
Background: Falls are a major health problem among older adults. Despite extensive literature on falls among community-dwelling adults, little is known about whether risk factors for falling, sedentary behavior and social participation between genders.
Purpose: To investigate gender differences regarding risk of falling, sedentary behavior and social participation among elderly men and women, aged 65 and over, and to verify the relationship between these factors.
Methods: Cross-sectional study. Participants were 234 community-dwelling men (117) and women (117) aged 65 and over who had taken part in the 2016-2017 survey of the FallSensing Project. The measuring instruments used in the protocol consisted of a questionnaire regarding sociodemographic data, history of fall (previous 12 months), how many and local of fall (inside or outside), fear of falling, sedentary behaviour and self-perceived health; three functional tests (10m Walking Speed (10mWS), Timed Up and Go (TUG) and 30 seconds Sit-to-Stand (STS); and two questionnaires concerning activities and participation profile related to mobility and self-efficacy for exercise.
Results: Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between the two groups for all variables except on the sedentary behaviour (p=0.114) and place (outside or inside) of previous falls (p=0.598). Findings suggest that older women are more likely to fall, have a higher number of falls in the same 12-month period than men and are fearer of falling again. In opposite, data highlight that men are more self-efficacious for exercise and they have a better social participation profile, comparing to women. Indoor falls tend to occur most frequently in elderly women, while men revealed significantly higher rates of outdoor falls.
Conclusion(s): Although we found some homogeneity between women and men, the existence of several gender-specific factors suggests that gender should be taken into account when planning fall prevention strategies.
Implications: The present study contributes to new knowledge on a diverse range of fields, emphasizing the need to take gender into consideration when designing strategies and tailor preventive programs to reduce falls and fear of falling, as well as strategies to increase active lifestyles and enhance social participation, with meaningful options to women and men, whereas they are recognised as healthy ageing indicators, with relevant interest for public health and for physiotherapy.
Keywords: Gender, Risk of falling, Social participation
Funding acknowledgements: Authors would like to thank the PT2020 (project 3464), COMPETE 2020 and ERDF-EU and all participants.
Purpose: To investigate gender differences regarding risk of falling, sedentary behavior and social participation among elderly men and women, aged 65 and over, and to verify the relationship between these factors.
Methods: Cross-sectional study. Participants were 234 community-dwelling men (117) and women (117) aged 65 and over who had taken part in the 2016-2017 survey of the FallSensing Project. The measuring instruments used in the protocol consisted of a questionnaire regarding sociodemographic data, history of fall (previous 12 months), how many and local of fall (inside or outside), fear of falling, sedentary behaviour and self-perceived health; three functional tests (10m Walking Speed (10mWS), Timed Up and Go (TUG) and 30 seconds Sit-to-Stand (STS); and two questionnaires concerning activities and participation profile related to mobility and self-efficacy for exercise.
Results: Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between the two groups for all variables except on the sedentary behaviour (p=0.114) and place (outside or inside) of previous falls (p=0.598). Findings suggest that older women are more likely to fall, have a higher number of falls in the same 12-month period than men and are fearer of falling again. In opposite, data highlight that men are more self-efficacious for exercise and they have a better social participation profile, comparing to women. Indoor falls tend to occur most frequently in elderly women, while men revealed significantly higher rates of outdoor falls.
Conclusion(s): Although we found some homogeneity between women and men, the existence of several gender-specific factors suggests that gender should be taken into account when planning fall prevention strategies.
Implications: The present study contributes to new knowledge on a diverse range of fields, emphasizing the need to take gender into consideration when designing strategies and tailor preventive programs to reduce falls and fear of falling, as well as strategies to increase active lifestyles and enhance social participation, with meaningful options to women and men, whereas they are recognised as healthy ageing indicators, with relevant interest for public health and for physiotherapy.
Keywords: Gender, Risk of falling, Social participation
Funding acknowledgements: Authors would like to thank the PT2020 (project 3464), COMPETE 2020 and ERDF-EU and all participants.
Topic: Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing; Older people; Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) & risk factors
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra
Ethics committee: Research Ethics Committee
Ethics number: Nº6/2017
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
