Determinants of disparities between perceived and physiological risk of falling among elderly people: cohort study

Abstract

Objectives: To gain an understanding of elderly people's fear of falling by exploring the prevalence and determinants of perceived and physiological fall risk and to understand the role of disparities in perceived and physiological risk in the cause of falls.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Community sample drawn from eastern Sydney, Australia.

Participants: 500 men and women aged 70-90 years.

Main outcome measures: Baseline assessment of medical, physiological, and neuropsychological measures, with physiological fall risk estimated with the physiological profile assessment, and perceived fall risk estimated with the falls efficacy scale international. Participants were followed up monthly for falls over one year.

Results: Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that perceived and physiological fall risk were both independent predictors of future falls. Classification tree analysis was used to split the sample into four groups (vigorous, anxious, stoic, and aware) based on the disparity between physiological and perceived risk of falling. Perceived fall risk was congruent with physiological fall risk in the vigorous (144 (29%)) and aware (202 (40%)) groups. The anxious group (54 (11%)) had a low physiological risk but high perceived fall risk, which was related to depressive symptoms (P=0.029), neurotic personality traits (P=0.026), and decreased executive functioning (P=0.010). The stoic group (100 (20%)) had a high physiological risk but low perceived fall risk, which was protective for falling and mediated through a positive outlook on life (P=0.001) and maintained physical activity and community participation (P=0.048).

Conclusion: Many elderly people underestimated or overestimated their risk of falling. Such disparities between perceived and physiological fall risk were primarily associated with psychological measures and strongly influenced the probability of falling. Measures of both physiological and perceived fall risk should be included in fall risk assessments to allow tailoring of interventions for preventing falls in elderly people.

Fig 1 Classification tree of 500 elderly people living in the community based on their physiological and perceived risks of falling

Fig 2 Physiological fall risk of 500 elderly people living in the community plotted against their perceived fall risk, and categorisation of people based on these values (“anxious,” “aware,” “vigorous,” and “stoic”)