Are multimorbidity and disability associated with risk of fall among adults aged 50 years and older?

Research Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between multimorbidity and the presence of disability with risk of falls including history of fall in the past 12 months, number of falls, recurrent falls (2 falls or more in the past 12 months), and fear of falling using Falls Efficacy Scale among community adults aged 50 years and older.

Design: A cross-sectional study

Setting: Community adults

Participants: This study included a total of 324 community individuals aged 50 years and older

Interventions: NA

Main Outcome Measures: Age, sex, body mass index (BMI), number of chronic diseases, disability using the Arabic versions of activities daily living (ADL) and Barthel Index, risk of fall (i.e., history of fall in the past 12-months, number of falls, and recurrent falls (2 falls or more)), and fear of falling using the Arabic version of Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) were collected. Data were analyzed using binary logistic, Poisson, and linear regressions after adjustments for age, sex, and BMI.

Results: Multimorbidity (Odds Ratio (OR) 2.50, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) [1.26, 4.95], p=0.009), disability using Barthel index (OR 1.71, 95% CI [1.04, 2.79], p=0.034) were associated with history of falls. Multimorbidity (Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) 2.87, 95% CI [1.93, 4.29], p< 0.001), disability using ADL (IRR 1.70, 95% CI [1.36, 2.13, p< 0.001) and Barthel index (IRR 1.86 95% CI [1.46, 2.36], p< 0.001) were significantly associated with increased number of falls. Multimorbidity (OR 4.50, 95% CI [1.78, 11.36], p=0.001), disability using ADL (OR 2.00, 95% CI [1.14, 3.54], p=0.016) and Barthel index (OR 2.82, 95% CI [1.58, 5.05], p< 0.001) were significantly associated with recurrent falls (2 falls or more). Multimorbidity (B=6.45, p< 0.001), disability using ADL (B=4.40, p=0.016), and Barthel index (B=3.05, p=0.025) were significantly associated with increased fear of falling using FES-I.

Conclusions: Both multimorbidity and disability were significantly associated with falls, number of falls and fear of falling in community dwelling adults aged 50 years and older.

Author(s) Disclosures: All authors have no conflict of interest