The Association between Levels of Muscle Strength and Fear of Falling in Korean Olders

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the association between muscle strength and fear of falling in Korean elderly. The study used data obtained by interview and physical test, targeting a total of 339 people 65 years old and over. In order to analyze the relationship between muscle strength and fear of falling we performed a logistic regression analysis to calculate odds ratio and 95% confidence interval after adjustments body mass index, smoking status, drinking status, cohabitation status, self-rated health, self-rated sight, cardiovascular disease and cancer status, history of falls. The levels of statistically significance were set at p<0.05. Through the logistic regression analysis, we found that the male elders who has high level of upper extremity strength and lower extremity strength appeared to have a significantly lower fear of falling than those who didn’t. In addition, the female who has high level of lower extremity strength appeared to have a significantly lower fear of falling than those who didn’t. This research results show a correlation between level of strength and fear of falling.