Association of Cardiovascular Disease and Physical Activity Phenotypes with Falls among Midlife and Older Adults: 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

ABSTRACT

Background

The role of physical activity (PA) in mitigating fall risk among adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD) is unclear.

Purpose

We examined the associations of CVD–PA phenotypes with falls.

Methods

Adults ≥ 45 years (n = 295,282; N = 130,103,093) from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System who self-reported CVD, leisure-time PA, and falls were examined. The weighted prevalence ratio (PR) of any, recurrent, and injurious falls across CVD–PA phenotypes (no CVD–PA, no CVD–no PA, CVD–PA, CVD–no PA) was estimated.

Results

The likelihood of any, recurrent, and injurious falls was higher across unhealthier CVD–PA phenotypes in fully adjusted models. In the total sample, no CVD–no PA (PR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.50), CVD–PA (PR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.60), and CVD–no PA (PR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.67) phenotypes were more likely to report injurious falls than no CVD–PA phenotype.

Discussion

Engaging in leisure-time PA may be an important lifestyle strategy for fall prevention in midlife and older adults who are at risk of CVD.

Translations to Health Education Practice

Our findings could be useful for health education in providing evidence on future fall prevention programs in adults who are at risk for CVD and falls.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Research ethics

IRB approval was not required because analysis using the 2018 BRFSS includes only publicly available data sets that do not include information that can identify individuals.

Data Availability statement

Data derived from a source in the public domain (the data underlying this article are available in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual_data/annual_2018.html)

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2022.2163008

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article.