Importance: Falls and fall-related injuries are common among older adults. Older adults are recommended to undertake 150 to 300 minutes of physical activity per week for health benefits; however, the association between meeting the recommended level of physical activity and falls is unclear.
Objectives: To examine whether associations exist between leisure-time physical activity and noninjurious and injurious falls in older women.
Design, setting, and participants: This population-based cohort study used a retrospective analysis of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). ALSWH participants born from 1946 to 1951 who completed follow-up questionnaires in 2016 (aged 65-70 years) and 2019 (aged 68-73 years) were included. Statistical analysis was performed from September 2022 to February 2023.
Exposure: Self-reported weekly amounts (0, 1 to <150, 150 to <300, ≥300 minutes) and types of leisure-time physical activity, including brisk walking and moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity, in the 2016 survey.
Main outcome and measures: Noninjurious and injurious falls in the previous 12 months reported in the 2019 survey. Associations between leisure-time physical activity and falls were quantified using directed acyclic graph-informed multinomial logistic regression and presented in odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs.
Results: This study included 7139 women (mean [SD] age, 67.7 [1.5] years). Participation in leisure-time physical activity at or above the level recommended by the World Health Organization (150 to <300 min/wk) was associated with reduced odds of noninjurious falls (150 to <300 min/wk: OR, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.59-0.92]; ≥300 min/wk: OR, 0.66 [95% CI, 0.54-0.80]) and injurious falls (150 to <300 min/wk: OR, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.56-0.88]; ≥300 min/wk: OR, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.63-0.93]). Compared with women who reported no leisure-time physical activity, those who reported brisk walking (OR, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.70-0.97]), moderate leisure-time physical activity (OR, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.70-0.93]), or moderate-vigorous leisure-time physical activity (OR, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.70-0.99]) had reduced odds of noninjurious falls. No statistically significant associations were found between the types of leisure-time physical activity and injurious falls.
Conclusions and relevance: Participation in leisure-time physical activity at the recommended level or above was associated with lower odds of both noninjurious and injurious falls. Brisk walking and both moderate and moderate-vigorous leisure-time physical activity were associated with lower odds of noninjurious falls.