Association of falls, fear of falling, handgrip strength and gait speed with frailty levels in the community elderly

Abstract

Introduction: The Frailty Syndrome is not synonymous with disability, but may be a precursor of etiological and physiological dysfunction, which affects mobility before causing reduced functional capacity, explaining conditions of weakness, weight loss, and abnormal gait. Study design: This is an analytical, observational, cross-sectional study. Objective: To verify the association of handgrip strength, gait speed, fear of falling, and falls with the level of frailty. Methods: Study consisting of 54 participants, aged 65 and older, enrolled in a health care and monitoring government program in the municipality of Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The volunteers were assessed for frailty,-non-frail group (NG), pre-frail group (PG), and frail group (FG)-according to the Fried criteria, and based on the outcomes of handgrip strength, gait speed, fear of falling, and falls. An inferential descriptive statistical analysis followed, with Chi-square and Kruskall-Wallis tests performed by the Stata11.0 software. Results: In the comparative analysis between the groups studied there was statistical significance relative to handgrip strength (FG and NG), gait speed (NG and FG / NG and PG), and fear of falling (NG and FG). There was no significant difference between the levels of frailty and falls. Conclusions: Frailty is associated with reduced muscle strength, decreased gait speed, and greater fear of falling in elderly people of the community.

Fragilidade física e velocidade da marcha em idosos da comunidade: uma revisão sistemática

“…Studies (31,33,35,55,59,(65)(66) showed that frailty is associated with reduced GS, and these findings are in agreement with another study. Data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA) showed that 90% of elderly classified as fragile had reduced GS (84) .…”

“…As observed in the different studies, even though there is no established consensus for GS measurement, there was a predominance of distance of 4.6 meters (23,34,38,(39)(40)42,(44)(45)50,(58)(59)(60)(73)(74) , and cutoff points for reduced GS were defined by the lowest quintile value (7,34,40,42,44,49,54,57,59,65,69,72,75) . These studies follow the procedure/protocol of the study (6) .…”

“…The results of the studies showed an association between GS and variables of disability (31) , frailty (31)(32)(54)(55)59,(65)(66) , cognitive impairment, dependence, mortality (23,64) , sedentary lifestyle (34,41) , muscle weakness (57) , worse health and quality of life (35,47,58) , stress (51,72) , napping duration (50) , obesity (46) , mass and percentage of body fat (60) and low performance in quantitative parameters of gait (33) . There was a significant association between reduced GS and lower life satisfaction (40) , and the episode of fall at follow-up was significantly associated with reduced GS (46) .…”

“…However, in most of them, the percentages of reduced GS as a marker of physical frailty were not described. In some studies (8,42,59,(72)(73) , the prevalence of reduced GS was reported in frail and prefrail groups. This demonstrates that GS and other markers of physical frailty (fatigue/exhaustion, weight loss, physical activity, muscle strength) were poorly explored in the studies analyzed.…”

“…Silveira, Pegorari, Castro, et al, 2015 (59) Cross-sectional In order to measure slow GS, was calculated the speed to walk 10 m, and slow GS was defined as <1.0 m/s.…”