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Frailty and Fear of Falling: The FISTAC Study
M Esbrí-Víctor1, I Huedo-Rodenas, M López-Utiel
1Pedro Abizanda, MD, PhD. Geriatrics Department. Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, 02006 Albacete, Spain. e-mail: pabizanda@sescam.jccm.es, Tfn: +34967597651; Fax : +34967597635.
Objective:
To analyze the association between frailty and Fear of Falling (FoF) in a cohort of older adults with previous falls.
Design:
Cross-sectional study (FISTAC).
Setting:
Falls Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario of Albacete (Spain).
Participants:
183 adults older than 69 years, from the Falls Unit, with a history of a previous fall in the last year.
Measurements:
FoF was assessed at baseline using the Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I) and three questions previously validated. Frailty was assessed with the frailty phenotype criteria. Age, gender, comorbidity, nutritional status, cognitive status and risk of depression were determined.
Results:
Mean age 78.4, 80.3% women. FoF was present in 140 (76.5%) participants with the three questions and 102 (55.7%) presented high concern of falling with the FES-I. 88.8% of frail older adults presented FoF compared to 62.4% of those who were not frail, and only 37.8% of non frail had a high concern of falling, compared to 77.2% of those who were frail measured with the FES-I. Frail participants had an adjusted risk of FoF that was 3.18 (95% CI 1.32 to 7.65) higher compared to those who were not frail assessed with the three questions and 3.93 (95% CI 1.85 to 8.36) higher concern of falling when using the FES-I scale. Only female sex and depression risk were also associated to FoF in the final adjusted models.
Conclusion:
Frailty is independently associated with the FoF syndrome in older faller subjects.
