Falls and patterns of physical activity participation over 18 years in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

Wing S Kwok; Saman Khalatbari-Soltani; Xenia Dolja-Gore; Julie Byles; Juliana S Oliveira; Marina B Pinheiro; Anne Tiedemann; Catherine Sherrington

doi:10.1136/bjsports-2024-108262

Falls and patterns of physical activity participation over 18 years in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

Br J Sports Med. 2024 Jul 31;58(16):919-929. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2024-108262.

Authors

Wing S Kwok^{1

2}, Saman Khalatbari-Soltani^{2

3}, Xenia Dolja-Gore⁴, Julie Byles⁴, Juliana S Oliveira^{5

2}, Marina B Pinheiro^{5

2}, Anne Tiedemann^{5

2}, Catherine Sherrington^{5

2}

Affiliations

¹ The University of Sydney Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia venisa.kwok@sydney.edu.au.
² School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Aging Research (CEPAR), University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ The University of Sydney Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

Objective: To explore the relationship between long-term physical activity (PA) participation and falls.

Methods: Participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health born 1946-1951 self-reported amounts of PA every 3 years since 1998 (mean age: 54 years, n=11 796). Latent class analysis described profiles of self-reported PA participation over 18 years. Associations between patterns of PA participation and self-reported falls measured in 2019 were examined using multinomial logistic regression adjusted for directed-acyclic graph-informed potential confounders, with the highly active group as the reference category.

Results: Women were grouped into five PA participation profiles. Compared with consistently highly active patterns (maintaining ≥300 min/week, 22%), consistently lower levels of PA<100 min/week (18%), consistently some PA<150 min/week (18%) and decreasing PA but maintaining≥150 min/week (n=3540, 30%) had higher odds of non-injurious falls (odds Ratio_{lower level} (OR): 1.59, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.97; OR_{some PA}: 1.27, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.55; OR_{decreasing activity}:1.29, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.63) and injurious falls (OR_{low level}: 1.32, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.64; OR_{some PA}: 1.27, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.54; OR_{decreasing activity}: 1.47, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.83). No association was found between increasing PA (≥150 min/week, 11%) for non-injurious (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.89 to 1.29) and injurious falls (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.29). After adjusting for potential confounders, consistently lower levels of PA remained associated with increased non-injurious falls odds (OR_{1998 survey}: 1.40, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.77; OR_{2016 survey}: 1.35, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.71).

Conclusion: The increased odds of falls among women with consistently lower levels of PA over 18 years supports ongoing participation of 150+ min/week of PA.

Keywords: Accidental Falls; Longitudinal Studies; Physical activity; Prospective Studies; Women.

MeSH terms

Accidental Falls* / statistics & numerical data
Aged
Australia
Exercise*
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Middle Aged
Risk Factors
Self Report
Women's Health*