Fear of falling and its association with anxiety and depression disorders among community-dwelling older adults

ABSTRACT

There has been a growing interest in assessing the condition and quality of life in older adult population, and factors contributing to it. In this context, fear of falling syndrome is introduced as one of the main factors that can affect the quality of life in the general adult population. However, little is known about the relationship between fear of falling and other disorders in older adults, particularly among the Middle East population. Here we investigated the associations between fear of falling and anxiety and depression disorders. A standardized questionnaire was used to assess sociodemographic variables and physical health condition. Subsequently, fear of falling and anxiety and depression scales were assessed using the Falls Efficacy Scale International and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, respectively. Our results highlighted the high risk of having anxiety and depression disorders among older adults. The findings also indicate that physical and mental health disorders play a significant role in incident fear of falling. Therefore, improving mental health might lend controlling fear of falling syndrome, which then preventing falls incident and subsequent injury in older adult population.

KEYWORDS:

• Fear of falling
• older adult population
• anxiety and depression
• physical health
• mental health

Acknowledgments

The research was supported by Department of public health of Shiraz University of Medical Science under grant number 11491-42-01-95. The research was conducted according to the guidelines of Shiraz University of Medical Science Committee (approval no. 11491-42-01-95).

Authorship declaration

Study Design and Data Collection: Tayebeh Rakhshani and Mohammad Reza Ebrahimi

Manuscript Writing and Analysis: Mina Hojat Ansari and Mehregan Ebrahimi

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.