Relationship Between Lower Limb Muscle Strength and Future Falls Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults With No History of Falls: A Prospective 1-Year Study

Objective:To investigate whether lower limb muscle strength could be a risk factor for the first fall among nonfaller community-dwelling older adults.Method:Hip, knee, and ankle peak torque (PT) was measured with an isokinetic dynamometer in 101 older adults with no history of falls in the previous year. Next, the authors followed up the participants on a monthly basis by telephone contact to determine the occurrence of fall episodes over a period of 1 year. Multivariate logistic regression adjusted for confounding variables was applied to assess the relationship between falls and lower limb PT.Results:there was no association between lower limb PT and future falls (p> .05).Conclusion:Based on these results, it is important to identify other factors that predispose older adults with no history of falls to falling for the first time, so that early and effective preventive strategies may be elaborated.

Automated summary

This study found no association between lower limb muscle strength and future falls in nonfaller older adults, suggesting the importance of identifying other factors that predispose older adults with no history of falls to falling for the first time in order to develop effective preventive strategies.