Relationships between falls, age, independence, balance, physical activity, and upper limb function in elderly Brazilians

Figures & data

Figure 1. Selected sample (n = 43).

Figure 2. The questionnaire for the categorization and record of the number of falls.

Table 1. Sample categorization

Characteristics		Number (%)
Gender	Female	25 (58.1)
	Male	18 (41.9)
Age	60–70 years	20 (46.5)
	71–80 years	8 (18.6)
	81–90 years	14 (32.6)
	91–95 years	1 (2.3)
With whom they reside	Alone	16 (37.2)
	The spouse	19 (44.2)
	Children/other	8 (18.6)
Economic status	Retirees	36 (83.7)
	Active	7 (16.3)
Diseases present*	Systemic arterial Hypertension	34 (79.1)
	Diabetes mellitus	10 (23.3)
	Heart diseases	5 (11.6)
	Osteopathy	19 (44.2)
Physical activity	Yes	19 (44.2)
	No	24 (55.8)
Practiced physical activity	Walking	16 (37.2)
	Water aerobics	3 (6.9)
	Physical activities group	3 (6.9)
	Stretching	2 (4.6)
	Bodybuilding	2 (4.6)
Frequency of exercise per week	1x	3 (7)
	2x	8 (18.6)
	3x	2 (4.6)
	4x or more	6 (13.9)
Proportion who ever had a fall in past 1 year		72%
Proportion who did not have a fall in past 1 year		28%
Mean (SD) on number of fall among those who ever had a fall		2.09

^* For the diseases and practiced physical activity present, participants could include more than one option.

Table 2. Result of the instruments applied by ANOVA and association between qualitative variables (χ² test)

Variable	Overall	Stratified by gender			Stratified by physical activity
		F	M	p-values	No	Yes	p-values
N	43	25	18		24	19
Age (mean (SD))	73.58 (9.71)	72.76 (9.71)	74.72 (9.87)	0.520	76.29 (9.21)	70.16 (9.45)	0.038
Number of falls (mean (SD))	1.51 (1.33)	1.44 (1.33)	1.61 (1.38)	0.683	1.67 (1.58)	1.32 (0.95)	0.398
FIM (mean (SD))	123.16 (2.78)	123.04 (3.19)	123.33 (2.14)	0.737	123.08 (2.96)	123.26 (2.60)	0.836
Box and blocks test (mean (SD))	60.60 (12.60)	59.32 (12.88)	62.39 (12.35)	0.438	58.50 (11.51)	63.26 (13.71)	0.223
Berg Balance Scale (mean (SD))	50.42 (5.25)	50.36 (5.37)	50.50 (5.24)	0.933	48.29 (5.71)	53.11 (3.00)	0.002
Physical activity = Yes (%)	19 (44.20)	13 (52.00)	6 (33.30)	0.366
Gender = M (%)	18 (41.90)

Table 3. Pearson correlation coefficients between age, number of falls, independence, upper limb function and balance (N = 43)

	Age	Number of falls	Independence (FIM)	Upper limb function (box and blocks test)	Balance (Berg Balance Scale)
Age	1.00	0.41	−0.49	−0.45	−0.51
p-value		0.0063	0.0009	0.0025	0.0004
Number of falls	0.41		−0.63	−0.29	−0.47
p-value	0.0063	1.00	<0.0001	0.0586	0.0015
Independence (FIM)	−0.49	−0.63		0.56	0.54
p-value	0.0009	<0.0001	1.00	<0.0001	0.0002
Upper limb function (Box and blocks test)	−0.51	−0.47	0.54	1.00	0.62
p-value	0.0004	0.0015	0.0002		<0.0001
Balance (Berg balance scale)	−0.45	−0.29	0.56	0.62	1.00
p-value	0.0025	0.0586	<0.0001	<0.0001