Association between Daily-Life Gait Quality Characteristics and Physiological Fall Risk in Older People
Sabine Schootemeijer,
Roel H.A. Weijer,
Marco J.M. Hoozemans,
Kimberley S. van Schooten,
Kim Delbaere,
Mirjam Pijnappels
Affiliations
Sabine Schootemeijer
Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Roel H.A. Weijer
Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Marco J.M. Hoozemans
Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kimberley S. van Schooten
Falls, Balance and Injury Research Centre, Neuroscience Research Australia, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2031, Australia
Kim Delbaere
Falls, Balance and Injury Research Centre, Neuroscience Research Australia, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2031, Australia
Mirjam Pijnappels
Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Gait quality characteristics obtained from accelerometry during daily life are predictive of falls in older people but it is unclear how they relate to fall risk. Our aim was to test whether these gait quality characteristics are associated with the severity of fall risk. We collected one week of trunk accelerometry data from 279 older people (aged 65–95 years; 69.5% female). We used linear regression to investigate the association between six daily-life gait quality characteristics and categorized physiological fall risk (QuickScreen). Logarithmic rate of divergence in the vertical (VT) and anteroposterior (AP) direction were significantly associated with the level of fall risk after correction for walking speed (both p p ≤ 0.01). We conclude that logarithmic rate of divergence in VT and AP are associated with fall risk, making them feasible to assess the physiological fall risk in older people.
