Fear of fall, history of fall and its association with gait parameters in community-dwelling older adults in India

The objective of this study was to examine the influence of fear of falls (FOF) and history of falls on gait parameters in community-dwelling older adults. A total of 659 active adults above 60 years of age participated in this cross-sectional study. Demographic details, FOF, and history of falls (HOF) were recorded using a semi-structured questionnaire. Gait parameters were measured using wearable sensors during the ‘timed- up and go test. Mean differences in gait parameters of those with and without fear of fall and fall history were calculated using one-way ANOVA. FOF was reported by 21.7 per cent and a history of falls was reported by 24.7per cent of the participants. Participants with both history and fear offalls had significantly slower stride velocity, decreased cadence, increased gait cycles, time taken to stand, walk time, and turn time (p< 0.05) as compared to those without a history of falls andfear of fall. Therefore, FOF can be used as a marker to assess the risk of gait impairments. In low-resource settings, FOF can be employed in routine clinical examination to identify older adults at risk of falls and developed interventions targeting FOF and gait parameters.