Department of Health and Human Physiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 23;19(1):109. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010109.
Aging is associated with cognitive decline and increased fall risk. Cognitive impairment is associated with cannabis use, which is increasing among older adults. Perceptual and physiological fall risk are discordant in some older adults, but whether cannabis use influences this association is unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible disparities between perceptual and physiological fall risk in older cannabis users. Eight older medical cannabis users and eight sex- and age-matched non-users provided data on perceptual and physiological fall risk. Group differences were assessed, and perceptual fall risk was correlated with physiological fall risk. Perceptual risk and most of the physiological fall risk variables were equivalent between the groups. However, cannabis users performed significantly worse on unipedal stance than non-users. In addition, perceptual fall risk had weak correlations with physiological fall risk in the users (Spearman's = 0.17-0.41) and moderate-strong correlations in non-users ( = -0.18-0.67). Cannabis users might have a discrepancy between perceptual and physiological fall risk. Because both concepts play a role in quality of life, identifying strategies to improve them may have significant benefits. Future studies investigating additional perceptual (e.g., cognition, fear of falling, depression, anxiety), physiological (e.g., more challenging static and dynamic balance conditions), and general fall risk are warranted.
衰老是认知能力下降和跌倒风险增加的原因。认知障碍与大麻的使用有关，而老年人中使用大麻的人数正在增加。在一些老年人中，知觉和生理跌倒风险是不一致的，但大麻的使用是否会影响这种关联尚不清楚。本研究的目的是调查老年大麻使用者知觉和生理跌倒风险之间是否存在差异。8 名老年医用大麻使用者和 8 名年龄和性别匹配的非使用者提供了知觉和生理跌倒风险的数据。评估了组间差异，并将知觉跌倒风险与生理跌倒风险进行了相关性分析。知觉风险和大多数生理跌倒风险变量在两组之间是相当的。然而，与非使用者相比，大麻使用者在单足站立时的表现明显更差。此外，在使用者中，知觉跌倒风险与生理跌倒风险的相关性较弱（Spearman's = 0.17-0.41），而非使用者的相关性为中度至强（ = -0.18-0.67）。大麻使用者可能存在知觉和生理跌倒风险之间的差异。由于这两个概念都与生活质量有关，因此确定改善它们的策略可能会带来显著的益处。未来的研究需要调查更多的知觉（例如认知、跌倒恐惧、抑郁、焦虑）、生理（例如更具挑战性的静态和动态平衡条件）和总体跌倒风险因素。
