The Incidence of Falls and The Correlation between Fear of Falling and Physical Performance in Postmenopausal Women
Keywords:
postmenopausal women, falling, fear of falling, physical performanceAbstract
Background and Objective: Postmenopausal women often experience a decline in physical performance, increasing their risk of falls. While numerous studies have addressed falls and the fear of falling in older adults, there is a gap in understanding these phenomena specifically in the postmenopausal population. This study aims to investigate the incidence of falls and fear of falling, compare physical performance, and explore the relationship between physical performance and fear of falling in postmenopausal women.
Methods: A total of 120 postmenopausal women aged 40-59 years participated in this study. Participants were evaluated using the falls efficacy scale-international (Thai FES-I) to assess fear of falling. Physical performance was measured through the hand grip test (HG) to assess hand and forearm muscle strength, the timed up and go test (TUGT) to evaluate balance ability, and the five times sit to stand test (FTSST) to assess lower extremity strength.
Results: The average age of postmenopausal participants was approximately 55.03 ± 3.26 years, with a reported incidence of falls in the previous year at approximately 7.50% and a fear of falling incidence of about 45.00%. Stumbling was the most common cause of falls (55.56%), predominantly occurring in the forward direction (44.44%) and indoors (66.67%). The results of physical performance showed that the fear of falling group took more time to perform the TUGT and FTSST compared to the group without fear of falling (p < 0.05). The fear of falling group also had significantly reduced HG compared to the group without fear of falling (p < 0.05). Furthermore, Thai FES-I scores were significantly positively correlated with FTSST and TUGT, and negatively correlated with HG (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Postmenopausal women had fallen in the previous years by about 7.50% and fear of falling by about 45.00%. The fear of falling was correlated with physical performance, resulting in decreased physical performance. Therefore, the assessment of fear of falling in postmenopausal women is importance. This information may help to develop the prevention program and reduce risk of falls.
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