Falls-related self-efficacy is independently associated with quality-adjusted life years in older women

Abstract

Background: falls-related self-efficacy is associated with falls, falls-related injury and subsequent functional decline which may lead to poor health-related quality-of-life (HRQL). To our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the independent contribution of falls-related self-efficacy to HRQL. Our primary objective was to determine whether falls-related self-efficacy is independently associated HRQL, measured by quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), in older women after accounting for known covariates.

Method: we conducted a secondary analysis of 135 community-dwelling older women aged 65-75 years who participated in a 12-month randomised controlled trial of resistance training. We assessed falls-related self-efficacy using the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale and QALYs calculated from the EuroQol EQ-5D (EQ-5D).

Results: our multivariate linear regression model demonstrated that falls-related self-efficacy as assessed using the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale was independently associated with QALYs after accounting for age, group, education, functional co-morbidity index, general mobility, global cognition and physiological falls risk. The final model explained 52% of the variation in QALYs. The ABC Scale accounted for 5% of the total variance in the final model.

Conclusions: although falls-related self-efficacy was independently associated with QALYs after controlling for a number of known variables, there may well be other factors not investigated, such as risk taking behaviour and psychological measures, which could account for some of the association.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00426881.