Is Fear of Falling Associated With Incident Disability? A Prospective Analysis in Young-Old Community-Dwelling Adults.

OBJECTIVES

Fear of falling (FOF) is common in older people and is related to negative outcomes. This study aimed to investigate whether 2 different instruments, the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) and the single question on FOF and activity restriction (SQ-FAR), were associated with incident disability at 3 years.

DESIGN

Prospective observational study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Participants (n = 1219, 57.4% women) were disability-free community-dwelling persons enrolled in the Lausanne cohort 65+, aged 66 to 71 years, in 2005.

MEASURES

Baseline covariates included demographic, cognitive, affective, and health status. Basic activities of daily living (BADL) assessment was recorded annually from a self-administered questionnaire. Disability outcome was defined as reporting difficulty or help needed in ≥1 of 5 BADL in ≥2 consecutive years, or being institutionalized during follow-up.

RESULTS

At 3 years, disability was reported by 77 participants (6.3%). Reporting the highest level of fear at FES-I [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 5.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.82-14.55, P = .002] or "FOF with activity restriction" with SQ-FAR (aOR 3.23, 95% CI 1.29-8.08, P = .012) were both associated with increased odds of disability even after adjusting for covariates. The FES-I model explained incident disability slightly better than the SQ-FAR one [Bayesian information criterion (BIC) values of 466.70 and 469.43, respectively].

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

High FOF and related activity restriction, assessed with FES-I and SQ-FAR, are associated with incident disability in young-old community-dwelling people. The SQ-FAR is suitable as a screening tool to proactively detect a potentially reversible risk factor for disability. Using the FES-I may serve additional clinical purposes, such as FOF characterization and management.