TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal association between handgrip strength, gait speed and risk of serious falls in a community-dwelling older population
AU - Pham, Thao
AU - McNeil, John J.
AU - Barker, Anna L.
AU - Orchard, Suzanne G.
AU - Newman, Anne B.
AU - Robb, Catherine
AU - Ernst, Michael E.
AU - Espinoza, Sara
AU - Woods, Robyn L.
AU - Nelson, Mark R.
AU - Beilin, Lawrence
AU - Hussain, Sultana Monira
N1 - Funding Information:
Source of Funding: The ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging and the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (U01AG029824); the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (334037 and 1127060); Monash University (Melbourne, VIC, Australia); and the Victorian Cancer Agency (Australia). The ASPREE-Falls & Fractures substudy was supported by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (1067242). Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The sponsor had no role in the design and conduct of this study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data and decision to submit the manuscript for publication but was given the opportunity to review and comment on the manuscript. We thank the patients who participated in this trial.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Pham et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Objective Both grip strength and gait speed can be used as markers of muscle function, however, no previous study has examined them in the same population with respect to risk of falls. Methods In this prospective cohort study, utilising data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial and ASPREE-Fracture substudy, we analysed the association of grip strength and gait speed and serious falls in healthy older adults. Grip strength was measured using a handheld dynamometer and gait speed from 3-metre timed walks. Serious falls were confined to those involving hospital presentation. Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations with falls. Results Over an average of 4.0±1.3 years, amongst 16,445 participants, 1,533 had at least one serious fall. After adjustment for age, sex, physical activity, body mass index, Short Form 12 (state of health), chronic kidney disease, polypharmacy and aspirin, each standard deviation (SD) lower grip strength was associated with 27% (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.17–1.38) higher risk of falls. The results remained the same for males and females. There was a dose-response relationship in the association between grip strength and falls risk. The higher risk of falls was observed in males in all body mass index (BMI) categories, but only in obese females. The association between gait speed and falls risk was weaker than the association between grip strength and falls risk. Conclusions All males and only obese females with low grip strength appear to be at the greatest risk of serious falls. These findings may assist in early identification of falls.
AB - Objective Both grip strength and gait speed can be used as markers of muscle function, however, no previous study has examined them in the same population with respect to risk of falls. Methods In this prospective cohort study, utilising data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial and ASPREE-Fracture substudy, we analysed the association of grip strength and gait speed and serious falls in healthy older adults. Grip strength was measured using a handheld dynamometer and gait speed from 3-metre timed walks. Serious falls were confined to those involving hospital presentation. Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations with falls. Results Over an average of 4.0±1.3 years, amongst 16,445 participants, 1,533 had at least one serious fall. After adjustment for age, sex, physical activity, body mass index, Short Form 12 (state of health), chronic kidney disease, polypharmacy and aspirin, each standard deviation (SD) lower grip strength was associated with 27% (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.17–1.38) higher risk of falls. The results remained the same for males and females. There was a dose-response relationship in the association between grip strength and falls risk. The higher risk of falls was observed in males in all body mass index (BMI) categories, but only in obese females. The association between gait speed and falls risk was weaker than the association between grip strength and falls risk. Conclusions All males and only obese females with low grip strength appear to be at the greatest risk of serious falls. These findings may assist in early identification of falls.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85158107991&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0285530
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0285530
M3 - Article
C2 - 37155689
AN - SCOPUS:85158107991
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 18
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 5 May
M1 - e0285530
ER -