TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Life-space mobility declines associated with incident falls and fractures
JO  - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
A1  - Lo, Alexander X.
A1  - Brown, Cynthia J.
A1  - Sawyer, Patricia
A1  - Kennedy, Richard E.
A1  - Allman, Richard M.
SP  - 919
EP  - 923
VL  - 62
IS  - 5
N2  - OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of falls and fractures on life-space mobility in a cohort of community-dwelling older adults. <br><br>DESIGN: Prospective, observational study with a baseline in-home assessment and 6-month telephone follow-up interviews over 4 years. SETTING: Central Alabama. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older recruited from a random sample of Medicare beneficiaries stratified according to sex, race, and urban versus rural residence (N = 970). MEASUREMENTS: Sociodemographic factors, medical history, depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale), cognitive function (Mini-Mental State Examination), mobility-related symptoms, transportation difficulty, and healthcare use were assessed during a baseline in-home interview of participants. Life-space mobility and falls or injuries (including fractures) were assessed at the baseline interview and at 6-month intervals in follow-up telephone calls. <br><br>RESULTS: Four hundred fifty-four (47%) participants reported at least one fall during the 4-year follow-up. The life-space score fell 3.2 points from the beginning to the end of the 6-month interval during which a fall occurred, adjusting for other known predictors of decline in life-space mobility. The decrease in interval life-space score was progressively greater for a fall and an injury (-4.7 points), a fall and a fracture (-14.2 points), and a fall and a hip fracture (-23.6 points). <br><br>CONCLUSION: Falls, whether associated with an injury or not, were independently associated with a decrease in life-space mobility in the ensuing 6 months. Further studies are needed to determine reasons for life-space mobility decline in community-dwelling older adults with incident falls without any injuries.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-8614
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jgs.12787
ID  - ref1
ER  -