Fear of falling in acute stroke: The Fall Study of Gothenburg (FallsGOT)

Figures & data

Table 1. Baseline demographics and clinical data for the participants.

Characteristic	Total	FoF	No FoF
	n = 462	n = 237 (51.3%)	n = 225 (48.7%)
Age
Mean (SD)	74.8 (12)	76.9 (11.6)	72.6 (12.1)
Sex
Female, n (%)	226 (48.9)	141 (59.5)	85 (37.8)
Male, n (%)	236 (51.1)	96 (40.5)	140 (62.2)
NIHSS (n = 430)
Mean (SD)	2.7 (3.7)	3.3 (4.3)	2.1 (2.8)
Length of hospital stay (days)
Mean (SD)	12.2 (11.5)	15 (13.1)	9.2 (8.5)
Type of stroke, n (%)
Ischemic	431 (93.3)	224 (94.5)	207 (92)
Hemorrhagic	29 (6.3)	13 (5.5)	16 (7.1)
Subarachnoid	2 (0.4)	0 (0)	2 (0.9)
Stroke location (n = 449)
Right, n (%)	254 (55)	141 (59.5)	113 (50.2)
Left	186 (40.3)	86 (36.3)	100 (44.4)
Bilateral	9 (1.9)	4 (1.7)	5 (2.3)
Unknown	13 (2.8)	6 (2.5)	7 (3.1)
SwePASS total score (n = 461)
Mean (SD)	26.9 (8.4)	23.5 (8.8)	30.5 (6.2)
Median (IQR)	30 (24; 32)	26.5 (19; 30)	32 (30; 35)
Using a walking aid, n (%)	195 (42.2)	141 (59.5)	54 (24)

Notes:

FoF: fear of falling; SD: standard deviation; IQR: interquartile range; NIHSS: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, within 24 h of admission; SwePASS: the Swedish modified version of the Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients, assessed within 4 days of admission.

Table 2. The prevalence of risk factors for stroke and co-morbidities among all patients and patients with and without fear of falling at baseline.

Characteristic	Total	FoF	No FoF
n (%)	462	237 (51.3)	225 (48.7)
Hypertension	336 (72.7)	177 (74.7)	159 (70.7)
Atrial fibrillation	123 (26.6)	73 (30.8)	50 (22.2)
Heart failure	49 (10.6)	27 (11.4)	22 (9.8)
Ischemic heart disease	98 (21.2)	53 (22.4)	45 (20)
Diabetes mellitus	97 (21)	51 (21.5)	46 (20.4)
Hyperlipidaemia	348 (75.3)	170 (71.7)	178 (79.1)
Smoking (n = 428)
Previous smoker	103 (24.1)	49 (22.3)	54 (26)
Current smoker	93 (21.7)	43 (19.5)	50 (24)
SGPALS (n = 459)
1 Physically inactive	253 (55.1)	161 (67.9)	92 (41.4)
2 Some light PA	186 (40.5)	69 (29.1)	117 (52.7)
3 Regular PA/training	20 (4.4)	7 (3)	13 (5.9)

Notes:

For categorical variables, n (%) is presented. FoF: fear of falling; SGPALS: Saltin-Grimby Physical Activity Level Scale; PA: physical activity.

Table 3. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression showing odds ratios for baseline variables and length of hospital stay as predictors of fear of falling.

	Univariable			Multivariable
Variable	OR (95% CI) Afraid of falling	P	Area under ROC curve (95% CI)	OR (95% CI) Afraid of falling	P
Age	1.03 (1.02–1.05)	0.0001	0.6 (0.55–0.66)
Sex
Female	2.42 (1.66–3.52)	<0.0001	0.61 (0.56–0.65)	2.25 (1.46–3.46)	0.0002
Male (Ref.)	1
NIHSS	1.1 (1.04–1.17)	0.0009	0.58 (0.53–0.63)
Length of hospital stay (days)	1.06 (1.04–1.08)	<0.0001	0.67 (0.62–0.72)
Type of stroke
Ischemic (Ref.)	1
Hemorrhagic	0.75 (0.35–1.6)	0.46	0.51 (0.49–0.54)
Subarachnoid	–	–	–
Stroke location
Right (Ref.)	1
Left	0.69 (0.47–1.01)	0.055
Bilateral	0.64 (0.17–2.44)	0.51	0.55 (0.50–0.59)
SwePASS total score
≤24	13.33 (7.47–23.8)	<0.0001		9.41 (5.13–17.25)	<0.0001
25–30	3.86 (2.44–6.12)	<0.0001		2.29 (1.36–3.83)	0.0017
≥31 (Ref.)	1		0.74 (0.70–0.78)	1
Using a walking aid	4.65 (3.11–6.95)	<0.0001	0.68 (0.64–0.72)	3.40 (2.12–5.43)	<0.0001
Hypertension	1.22 (0.81–1.85)	0.33	0.52 (0.48–0.56)
Atrial fibrillation	1.56 (1.03–2.37)	0.038	0.54 (0.50–0.58)
Heart failure	1.19 (0.65–2.15)	0.57	0.51 (0.48–0.54)
Ischemic heart disease	1.15 (0.74–1.8)	0.54	0.51 (0.47–0.55)
Diabetes mellitus	1.07 (0.68–1.67)	0.78	0.51 (0.47–0.54)
Hyperlipidaemia	0.67 (0.44–1.03)	0.067	0.54 (0.50–0.58)
Smoking
Never smoker (Ref.)	1
Previous smoker	0.74 (0.46–1.17)	0.20
Current smoker	0.70 (0.43–1.13)	0.15	0.54 (0.49–0.59)
SGPALS
1 Physically inactive (Ref.)	1
2 Some light PA	0.34 (0.23–0.50)	<0.0001
3 Regular PA/training	0.31 (0.12–0.80)	0.015	0.63 (0.59–0.68)

Notes:

The SwePASS: The Swedish modified version of the Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients; OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval; Area under ROC curve: Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; SGPALS: Saltin-Grimby Physical Activity Level Scale; PA: physical activity.