Article

It has been suggested that obesity increases fall risk, based on diminished
static balance and increased fall-related injury risk. However, these findings
only indirectly relate obesity and falls. The purpose of this study was to use
existing data to directly explore the relationship between obesity and falls by
community-dwelling women aged 55 years and older. Eighty-six subjects (42 obese)
reported falls occurring during the previous year (retrospective falls), and over
the following year responded to biweekly communications inquiring whether they
fell or stumbled (prospective falls/stumbles). Because trips represent the
largest fall cause by community-dwelling adults, we also analyzed outcomes and
recovery strategies of 25 women (13 obese) after laboratory-induced trips. Obese
and healthy weight women retrospectively reported similar fall rates (40.9% vs
40.5%; P=.97). Similar percentages of healthy weight and obese women
prospectively fell (64.7% vs 64.3%; P=.98) and stumbled (38.9% vs 14.3%; P=.24).
After laboratory-induced trips, 46.2% of obese verse 25.0% of healthy weight
women fell (P=.44). Unlike healthy weight fallers, most obese fallers failed to
initiate or complete the recovery step before full-body harness support. Obesity
does not appear to increase overall fall risk; although, fall rates after
laboratory-induced trips were notably higher, potentially due to altered recovery
responses. An incomplete recovery step could increase impact force with the
ground, predisposing obese individuals to injury. The fact that there is
concurrence between 4 independent outcomes strengthens the findings, suggesting
that further, large-scale studies are warranted to inform future clinical
practice regarding fall-risk assessment for obese older adults.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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