The relationship between time spent outdoors, falls, and fall-risk among the community-dwelling elderly in rural...

Falls are a major health concern among the older adults, and physical activity has been linked to fall-risk. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the relationship between time spent outdoors and the frequency of falls and fall-risk among the older adults in two rural Japanese communities. In Okikamuro, there was a positive correlation between fall-risk and age (r = 0.40, p < 0.001), as well as a slight negative correlation between the time spent outdoors and fall-risk (r = -0.20, p < 0.05). In Iwasaki, there was no correlation between fall-risk and age nor between fall-risk and the time spent outdoors; however, fall-risk was significantly higher in Iwasaki (p < 0.05) than Okikamuro and the time spent outdoors during winter was significantly less (p < .001).