Association of daily step counts and step intensity with fear of falling in Chinese community-dwelling older women

Beibei Shi; Litao Du; Qingqian Li; Shuang Wu; Hongli Ge; Si Chen; Xianliang Zhang; Qiang He

doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2023.10.031

Association of daily step counts and step intensity with fear of falling in Chinese community-dwelling older women

Geriatr Nurs. 2023 Nov-Dec:54:318-323. doi: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2023.10.031. Epub 2023 Nov 6.

Authors

Beibei Shi¹, Litao Du¹, Qingqian Li², Shuang Wu¹, Hongli Ge¹, Si Chen³, Xianliang Zhang¹, Qiang He⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Physical Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China.
² Jinan Engineering Polytechnic, Jinan 250200, China.
³ School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China.
⁴ School of Physical Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China. Electronic address: hq@sdu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37939458
DOI: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2023.10.031

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between objectively measured step counts, step intensity and FOF in community-dwelling older Chinese women. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on pooled data (n = 1101) from the baseline survey of the Physical Activity and Health Study (PAHIOWS). Step counts and step intensity were measured using wGT3X-BT accelerometers, and FOF was categorized into two levels (low and high) for logistic regression analysis. Higher step counts were significantly and negatively associated with FOF; however, after adjusting for step intensity, the association was no longer statistically significant. On the contrary, higher step intensity was negatively associated with FOF independent of step counts. This finding may provide new insights into the physical activity management of FOF in older women.

Keywords: Community-dwelling older women; Fear of falling; Step count; Step intensity.

MeSH terms

Aged
China
Cross-Sectional Studies
Fear*
Female
Humans
Independent Living*