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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Apr 1;52(4):afad059.
doi: 10.1093/ageing/afad059.

Effectiveness of exercise on fall prevention in community-dwelling older adults: a 2-year randomized controlled study of 914 women

Toni Rikkonen  1 , Reijo Sund  1 , Heli Koivumaa-Honkanen  2   3 , Joonas Sirola  1   4 , Risto Honkanen  1 , Heikki Kröger  1   4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of exercise on fall prevention in community-dwelling older adults: a 2-year randomized controlled study of 914 women

Toni Rikkonen et al. Age Ageing. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Communal exercise interventions may help prevent falls and injuries. However, pragmatic trials demonstrating the effectiveness of such strategies are sparse.

Methods: We determined whether a cost-free 12-month admission to the city's recreational sports facilities including initial 6 months of supervised weekly gym and Tai Chi sessions decreases the number of falls and related injuries. The mean (SD) follow-up time was 22·6 (4.8) months in 2016-19. A total of 914 women from a population-based sample with a mean age of 76.5 (SD 3.3, range 71.1-84.8) years were randomized into exercise intervention (n = 457) and control (n = 457) groups. Fall information was collected through biweekly short message (SMS) queries and fall diaries. Altogether 1,380 falls were recorded for the intention-to-treat analysis, with 1,281 (92.8%) being verified by telephone.

Results: A 14.3% fall rate reduction was detected in the exercise group (Incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.86; CI 95% 0.77-0.95) compared with the control group. Approximately half of the falls caused moderate (n = 678, 52.8%) or severe (n = 61, 4.8%) injury. In total, 13.2% (n = 166) of falls (including 73 fractures) required medical consultation with a 38% lower fracture rate in the exercise group (IRR = 0.62; CI 95% 0.39-0.99). Overall, the greatest reduction of 41% (IRR = 0.59; CI 95% 0.36-0.99) was observed in falls with severe injury and pain.

Conclusions: A community-based approach for a 6-month exercise period combined with a 12-month free use of sports premises can reduce falls, fractures and other fall-related injuries in aging women.

Keywords: aging; exercise; fall injury; fall prevention; fracture; older people.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The study recruitment, screening and participation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cumulative probability of any fracture during the follow-up in the control (Yellow) and intervention (Blue) groups (Kaplan–Meier curves, log-rank).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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