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Multicenter Study
. 2018 Aug 7;13(8):e0201989.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201989. eCollection 2018.

Should prevention of falls start earlier? Co-ordinated analyses of harmonised data on falls in middle-aged adults across four population-based cohort studies

Geeske Peeters  1   2 , Natasja M van Schoor  3 , Rachel Cooper  4 , Leigh Tooth  2 , Rose Anne Kenny  1   5   6
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Should prevention of falls start earlier? Co-ordinated analyses of harmonised data on falls in middle-aged adults across four population-based cohort studies

Geeske Peeters et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The prevalence of risk factors for falls increases during middle-age, but the prevalence of falls in this age-range is often overlooked and understudied. The aim was to calculate the prevalence of falls in middle-aged adults (aged 40-64 years) from four countries. Data were from four population-based cohort studies from Australia (Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, n = 10556, 100% women, 51-58 years in 2004), Ireland (The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, n = 4968, 57.5% women, 40-64 years in 2010), the Netherlands (Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, n = 862, 51.6% women, 55-64 years in 2012-13) and Great Britain (MRC National Survey of Health and Development, n = 2821, 50.9% women, 53 years in 1999). In each study, falls assessment was based on recall of any falls in the past year. The prevalence of falls was calculated for the total group, for each country, for men and women separately, and for 5-year age-bands. The prevalence was higher in Australia (27.8%, women only) and the Netherlands (25.1%) than in Ireland (17.6%) and Great Britain (17.8%, p<0.001). Women (27.0%) had higher prevalences than men (15.2%, p<0.001). The prevalence increased from 8.7% in 40-44 year olds to 29.9% in 60-64 year olds in women, and from 14.7% in 45-49 year olds to 15.7% in 60-64 year olds in men. Even within 5-year age-bands, there was substantial variation in prevalence between the four cohorts. Weighting for age, sex and education changed the prevalence estimates by less than 2 percentage points. The sharp increase in prevalence of falls in middle-age, particularly among women supports the notion that falls are not just a problem of old age, and that middle-age may be a critical life stage for preventive interventions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ageing (TILDA) is funded by the Irish Government and the Atlantic Philanthropies, along with support from Irish Life PLC in the form of a charitable gift. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Prevalence of falls per 5-year age band in middle-aged women (top) and men (bottom). Presented are the prevalence of falls per 5-year age bands based on the harmonised data across the four cohorts, and the number of participants providing data in each 5-year age band. Note that ALSWH and NSHD participants could be included more than once if they provided data at multiple data collection waves while still falling within the defined age bands.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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