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Updated: Jan 15, 2026
Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity
Published on: March 7, 2019
Activity Intensity and All-Cause Mortality Following Fall Injury Among Older Adults: Results from a 12-Year National
Oluwaseun Adeyemi1, Tracy Chippendale2, Olugbenga Ogedegbe3,4,5
1Department of Emergency Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Background:
Fall injury is a sentinel event for mortality among older adults, and activity intensity may play a role in mitigating this outcome. This study assessed the relationship between activity intensity and all-cause mortality following fall injury among community-dwelling U.S. older adults.
Methods:
For this retrospective cohort study, we pooled 12 years of data from the National Health Interview Survey and identified older adults (aged 65 years and older) who sustained fall injuries (N = 2454). The outcome variable was time to death following a fall injury. We defined activity intensity as a binary variable, none-to-low and normal-to-high, using the American Heart Association's weekly 500 Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) as a cutoff. We controlled for sociodemographic, healthcare access, and health characteristics; performed survey-weighted Cox proportional hazard regression analysis; and reported the adjusted mortality risks (plus 95% confidence interval (CI)).
Results:
The survey comprised 2454 older adults with fall injuries, representing 863,845 US older adults. The population was predominantly female (68%), non-Hispanic White (85%), and divorced/separated (54%). During the follow-up period, 45% of the study population died. Approximately 81% of the study population had low activity levels. However, between 2006 and 2017, the proportion of the study population with low physical activity decreased from 90% to 67%. After adjusting for sociodemographic, healthcare access, and health characteristics, none-to-low activity intensity was associated with 50% increased mortality risk (aHR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.20-1.87).
Conclusions:
Promoting higher physical activity levels may significantly reduce the all-cause mortality risk following fall injury among older adults.
