journal articles
FRAILTY AND FEAR FALLING: THE FISTAC STUDY
M. Esbri-Victor, I. Huedo-Rodenas, M. Lopez-Utiel, J.L. Navarro-Lopez, M. Martinez-Reig, J.A. Serra-Rexach, L. Romero-Rizos, P. Abizanda
Care Weekly 2017;1:50-55
Objective: To analyze the association between frailty and Fear of Falling (FoF) in a cohort of older adults with previous falls. Design: Cross-sectional study (FISTAC).
Setting: Falls Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario of Albacete (Spain). Participants: 183 adults older than 69 years, from the Falls Unit, with a history of a previous fall in the last year.
Measurements: FoF was assessed at baseline using the Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I) and three questions previously validated. Frailty was assessed with the frailty phenotype criteria. Age, gender, comorbidity, nutritional status, cognitive status and risk of depression were determined.
Results: Mean age 78.4, 80.3% women. FoF was present in 140 (76.5%) participants with the three questions and 102 (55.7%) presented high concern of falling with the FES-I. 88.8% of frail older adults presented FoF compared to 62.4% of those who were not frail, and only 37.8% of non frail had a high concern of falling, compared to 77.2% of those who were frail measured with the FES-I. Frail participants had an adjusted risk of FoF that was 3.18 (95% CI 1.32 to 7.65) higher compared to those who were not frail assessed with the three questions and 3.93 (95% CI 1.85 to 8.36) higher concern of falling when using the FES-I scale. Only female sex and depression risk were also associated to FoF in the final adjusted models.
Conclusion: Frailty is independently associated with the FoF syndrome in older faller subjects.
CITATION:
M. ESBRI-VICTOR ; I. HUEDO-RODENAS ; M. LOPEZ-UTIEL ; J.L. NAVARRO-LOPEZ ; M. MARTINEZ-REIG ; J.A. SERRA-REXACH ; L. ROMERO-RIZOS ; P. ABIZANDA (2017): Frailty and Fear Falling: The FISTAC Study. The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease (JPAD). http://dx.doi.org/10.14283/cw.2017.9