Gait Ability and Muscle Strength in Institutionalized Older Persons with and without Cognitive Decline and Association with Falls

Maria dos Anjos Dixe, Carla Madeira, Silvia Alves, Maria Adriana Henriques and Cristina Lavareda Baixinho
Additional contact information
Maria dos Anjos Dixe: Center for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechcare), School of Health Sciences of Polytechnic of Leiria, Polytechnic of Leiria, 2410-541 Leiria, Portugal
Carla Madeira: Vila Franca Hospital, 2600-009 Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal
Silvia Alves: Vila Franca Hospital, 2600-009 Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal
Maria Adriana Henriques: Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon (CIDNUR), 1600-190 Lisbon, Portugal
Cristina Lavareda Baixinho: Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon (CIDNUR), 1600-190 Lisbon, Portugal

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-11

Abstract: Falls are a complex problem, given their multifactorial nature, the comorbidities involved, and due to the dependency of older persons living in nursing homes. Risk, fear of falling, falls themselves, and their recurrence are the main factors behind fragility fractures, lack of independence, and increases in pain prevalence, and other comorbidities in older populations. The objectives of the present quantitative and longitudinal study were: (a) to characterize the cognitive state and fall frequency of older persons living in nursing homes; (b) to analyze the relationship between cognitive status and some fall risk factors; and (c) to associate cognitive decline, gait ability, and muscle strength of the examined institutionalized older persons with fall occurrence and recurrence over 12 months. The participants were 204 older persons who lived in Portuguese nursing homes, and data were collected from January 2019 to February 2020 by consulting medical records and applying the following instruments: the Mini-Mental State Examination, Timed Up and Go Test, and Medical Research Council Manual Muscle Testing Scale. Fall prevalence, assessed in two periods, 12 months apart, was similar in both samples (with and without cognitive decline) and close to 42%, and the annual recurrence rate was 38.3%. Older persons with no cognitive decline showed an association between gait speed and occurrence of first fall and recurrent fall ( p < 0.05). Muscle strength and use of gait aid devices were not related to falls and their recurrence, regardless of mental state.

Keywords: falls; aging population; nursing home; gait; muscle strength (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11543/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11543/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11543-:d:671137

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().