Fear of falling in community-dwelling older adults: What their gait acceleration pattern reveals.
Comput Methods Programs Biomed
; 244: 108001, 2024 Feb.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38199138
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Fear of Falling (FOF) is common among community-dwelling older adults and is associated with increased fall-risk, reduced activity, and gait modifications.OBJECTIVE:
In this cross-sectional study, we examined the relationships between FOF and gait quality.METHODS:
Older adults (N=232; age 77±6; 65 % females) reported FOF by a single yes/no question. Gait quality was quantified as (1) harmonic ratio (smoothness) and other time-frequency spatiotemporal variables from triaxial accelerometry (Vertical-V, Mediolateral-ML, Anterior-Posterior -AP) during six-minute walk; (2) gait speed, step-time CoV (variability), and walk-ratio (step-length/cadence) on a 4-m instrumented walkway. Mann Whitney U-tests and Random forest classifier compared gait between those with and without FOF. Selected gait variables were used to build Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier and performance was evaluated using AUC-ROC.RESULTS:
Individuals with FOF had slower gait speed (103.66 ± 17.09 vs. 110.07 ± 14.83 cm/s), greater step time CoV (4.17 ± 1.66 vs. 3.72 ± 1.24 %), smaller walk-ratio (0.53 ± 0.08 vs. 0.56 ± 0.07 cm/steps/minute), smaller standard deviation V (0.15 ± 0.06 vs. 0.18 ± 0.09 m/s2), and smaller harmonic-ratio V (2.14 ± 0.73 vs. 2.38 ± 0.58), all p<.01. Linear SVM yielded an AUC-ROC of 67 % on test dataset, coefficient values being gait speed (-0.19), standard deviation V (-0.23), walk-ratio (-0.36), and smoothness V (-0.38) describing associations with presence of FOF.CONCLUSION:
Older adults with FOF have reduced gait speed, acceleration adaptability, walk-ratio, and smoothness. Disrupted gait patterns during fear of falling could provide insights into psychosocial distress in older adults. Longitudinal studies are warranted.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Medo
/
Vida Independente
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Aged
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Aged80
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Female
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Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Comput Methods Programs Biomed
Assunto da revista:
INFORMATICA MEDICA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos