Gait Flexibility among Older Persons Significantly More Impaired in Fallers Than Non-Fallers—A Longitudinal Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Settings
2.2. Participants
2.3. Baseline Measures
2.4. Falls
2.5. Statistics
2.6. Ethical Considerations
3. Results
3.1. Participants
3.2. Baseline Measures
3.3. 12-Month Follow-Up
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Evaluated Characteristics | n = 101 | Fallers n = 42 | Non-Fallers n = 59 | p-Value |
---|---|---|---|---|
Age in years (mean (SD)) | 75.0 (5.6) | 75.7 (6.2) | 74.6 (5.2) | 0.328 |
Health status (healthy/reported illnesses) | 41/60 | 18/24 | 23/36 | 0.696 |
Gender number: Male/Female | 10/91 | 5/37 | 5/54 | 0.404 |
Vestibular function (healthy/pathological) | 16/85 | 6/36 | 10/49 | 0.788 |
Headshake test | 24/77 | 11/31 | 13/46 | 0.629 |
Dix–Hallpike test | 19/82 | 33/9 | 49/10 | 0.570 |
Head impulse test a | 60/39 | 26/15 | 34/24 | 0.631 |
Total number of falls | 58 | 58 | 0 | na |
Gait parameters obstacle course (mean (SD)) | ||||
Average stride time P1 b [ms] | 1318.5 (100.8) | 1319.0 (97.6) | 1318.1 (103.9) | 0.754 |
Variation in average stride time P1 [ms] | 297.9 (72.9) | 282.1 (75.6) | 309.1 (69.4) | 0.081 |
Gait flexibility P1 [%] | 14.0 (2.4) | 13.0 (2.2) | 14.7 (2.3) | <0.001 |
Average stride time P2 c [ms] | 1294.9 (88.1) | 1296.2 (86.8) | 1294.0 (89.8) | 0.918 |
Variation in average stride time P2 [ms] | 301.1 (66.5) | 289.44 (65.8) | 309.3 (66.3) | 0.081 |
Gait flexibility P2 [%] | 14.0 (2.1) | 13.0 (1.9) | 14.6 (2.0) | <0.001 |
Gait parameters walking on an even surface (mean (SD)) | ||||
Average stride time [ms] | 1151.1 (80.5) | 1168.2 (80.0) | 1139.0 (79.2)) | 0.104 |
Variation in average stride time [ms] | 187.9 (90.0) | 190.6 (94.0) | 185.9 (87.9) | 0.793 |
Gait flexibility [%] | 9.5 (2.5) | 9.0 (2.3) | 9.9 (2.5) | 0.058 |
TUG tests (mean (SD)) | ||||
TUG [s] | 8.4 (1.4) | 8.7 (1.5) | 8.3 (1.2) | 0.308 |
TUGman d [s] | 9.4 (2.1) | 9.7 (2.2) | 9.2 (2.0) | 0.144 |
TUGcogn e [s] | 10.2 (1.8) | 10.6 (2.1) | 10.0 (1.7) | 0.157 |
diffTUGman f [s] | 1.0 (1.4) | 1.1 (1.3) | 0.9 (1.4) | 0.361 |
diffTUGcogn g [s] | 1.8 (1.1) | 1.9 (1.3) | 1.7 (1.0) | 0.469 |
Extrinsic Falls n = 46 | Intrinsic Falls n = 10 | Non-Classifiable Falls n = 2 | |
---|---|---|---|
May–July | 13 | 3 | 1 |
August–October | 9 | 2 | 1 |
November–January | 12 | 1 | 0 |
February–April | 12 | 4 | 0 |
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Ekvall Hansson, E.; Valkonen, E.; Olsson Möller, U.; Chen Lin, Y.; Magnusson, M.; Fransson, P.-A. Gait Flexibility among Older Persons Significantly More Impaired in Fallers Than Non-Fallers—A Longitudinal Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 7074. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18137074
Ekvall Hansson E, Valkonen E, Olsson Möller U, Chen Lin Y, Magnusson M, Fransson P-A. Gait Flexibility among Older Persons Significantly More Impaired in Fallers Than Non-Fallers—A Longitudinal Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(13):7074. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18137074
Chicago/Turabian StyleEkvall Hansson, Eva, Elina Valkonen, Ulrika Olsson Möller, Yi Chen Lin, Måns Magnusson, and Per-Anders Fransson. 2021. "Gait Flexibility among Older Persons Significantly More Impaired in Fallers Than Non-Fallers—A Longitudinal Study" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 13: 7074. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18137074