Fear of falling and physical performance among older Czech adults

Background
The fear of falling (FoF) refers to a lack of self-confidence that normal activities can be performed without falling. FoF represents an important psychological factor at an older age.

Objectives
This study aimed to analyse the factors associated with FoF in a sample of community-dwelling older Czech adults.

Material and methods
A cross-sectional study was performed in 2017–2018. The Falls Efficacy Scale-International and the Short Physical Performance Battery were completed by 349 older adults with (n = 140) and without (n = 209) dementia. Fisher’s exact test, analysis of variance and logistic regression models were used for statistical analyses.

Results
Cognitive impairment, age and physical frailty were significantly associated with higher FoF. In three models of linear regression, associations between FoF and physical frailty were found. The first model demonstrated that physically frail older adults had a higher adjusted risk of FoF compared to less physically frail individuals [odds ratio (OR) = 11.91; 95% confidence interval (CI): 7.17–19.78]. In the second model, high FoF was discovered in physically frail older adults (OR = 11.41; 95% CI: 6.50–20.04) and women (OR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.08–3.59). In the final adjusted model, physically frail older adults had a higher FoF compared to less physically frail adults (OR = 10.02; 95% CI: 4.24–23.70), and higher education lowered the FoF score (OR = 0.57; 95% CI: 0.34–0.96; p = 0.034).

Conclusions
The multivariate analysis demonstrated that being physically frail was the main risk factor for high FoF, followed by the female gender.