TY - JOUR PY - 2019// TI - Judgment capacity, fear of falling and the risk of falls in community-dwelling older adults: the Pro.V.A. Longitudinal Study JO - Rejuvenation research A1 - Trevisan, Caterina A1 - Zanforlini, Bruno M. A1 - Maggi, Stefania A1 - Noale, Marianna A1 - Limongi, Federica A1 - De Rui, Marina A1 - Corti, Maria Chiara A1 - Perissinotto, Egle A1 - Welmer, Anna-Karin A1 - Manzato, Enzo A1 - Sergi, Giuseppe SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - BACKGROUND: Little is known of the factors that transform fear of falling (FOF) from a normal adaptive to a maladaptive response that could alter its impact on fall risk. Focusing on judgment capacity, we investigated whether it is associated with FOF and FOF-related activity restriction (AR), and whether it modifies the influence of FOF on fall risk.

METHODS: Data came from 2625 community-dwelling older adults enrolled in the Progetto Veneto Anziani. Baseline FOF and AR were assessed through personal interviews, and judgment capacity - high, moderate or poor - through situational tests. At follow-up after 4.4 years, self-reported falls during the previous year prior were recorded. The associations between judgment and FOF/AR, and between FOF and the risk of at least one fall or recurrent falls (≥2 falls), stratified by judgment capacity, were evaluated using multinomial logistic regressions.

RESULTS: Compared with high-judgment participants, lower judgment participants were 20% more likely to report FOF; moderate judgment participants were 55% more likely and poor judgment participants twice as likely to report AR. After adjusting for potential confounders, including physical activity and physical performance, FOF increased the reporting of at least one fall only in the poor judgment group. The association between FOF and recurrent falls was stronger in individuals with poor (OR=3.33, 95% CI:1.95-5.68) than with moderate (OR=2.71, 95% CI:2.14-3.42) or high (OR=1.64, 95% CI:1.48-1.83) judgment.

CONCLUSIONS: Poor judgment capacity increases the probability of FOF and AR in older adults, and may exacerbate the effect of FOF in increasing fall risk.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1549-1684 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/rej.2019.2197 ID - ref1 ER -