Alain Levêque

Fear of falling and associated activity restriction in older people. results of a cross-sectional study conducted in a Belgian town

ObjectivesThis article aims at describing, in a Belgian town, the frequency of the fear of falling and of subsequent activity restriction among non-institutionalised people aged 65 years and over, and at identifying persons affected by these two issues.MethodsCross-sectional survey conducted in Fontaine lEvêque (Belgium) in 2006, using a self-administered questionnaire.ResultsThe participants could fill in the questionnaire on their own or with the help of a third party if needed. The latter were not taken into account in this article. Analyses covered 419 questionnaires. Fear of falling and activity restriction were reported by, respectively, 59.1% and 33.2% of participants. They were more frequent among fallers but also affected non-fallers. In logistic regression analyses: gender, the fact of living alone and the number of falls were significantly associated with fear of falling; gender, age and the number of falls were significantly associated with activity restriction.ConclusionsOur study, despite various limitations, shows the importance of fear of falling and of subsequent activity restriction among older people, among fallers as well as among non-fallers. It also provides information, though limited, concerning persons affected by these two issues in Belgium, and in other contexts as well. Given the ageing of our populations, it is important to take these problems into account when caring for older people.

Analyse des facteurs influençant la santé subjective des personnes âgées : synthèse de la littérature biomédicale

Self-rated health is a frequently used measure, notably in the field of gerontology. Different authors have studied factors that can influence self-rated health among older persons and, according to studies, the factors taken into account and their influence vary. This article aims at synthesising the biomedical literature, published since 1993, on factors that influence self-rated health of non-institutionalised older persons aged 65 years and over, with a focus on cross-sectional quantitative studies. Of the 1801 articles that were identified by our search strategy in the Medline database, 22 were retained. The proportion of older persons assessing their health positively ranged, depending on the studies, from 48.4% to 78.0%. Fifteen studies out of 22 investigated what was rather associated with an unfavourable self-rated health. Two studies took into account only one kind of independent variables. In more than half of the studies, 1 to several variables belonging to at least 3 kinds of independent variables were associated with self-rated health in multivariable analysis. The associations between these different kinds of independent variables considered (sociodemographic characteristics - morbidity - functional status - mental health - social support - other variables) and self-rated health are here presented and synthesized. This work shows that the factors that influence self-rated health among older people, factors measured differently according to authors, are varied and belong to different domains. These domains include morbidity, functional status, as well as sociodemographic characteristics, mental health, certain aspects of social support and other kinds of factors.