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Accelerometer‐Measured Sedentary Patterns are Associated with Incident Falls in Older Women
Author(s) -
Rosenberg Dori E.,
RillamasSun Eileen,
Bellettiere John,
LaMonte Michael,
Buchner David M.,
Di Chongzhi,
Hunt Julie,
Marshall Stephen,
Stefanick Marcia,
Zhang Yuzheng,
LaCroix Andrea Z.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/jgs.16923
Subject(s) - medicine , quartile , confidence interval , prospective cohort study , incidence (geometry) , demography , sedentary lifestyle , physical therapy , falling (accident) , gerontology , physical activity , environmental health , physics , sociology , optics
Background/Objective Falls cause significant problems for older adults. Sedentary time is associated with lower physical function and could increase the risk for falls. Design Prospective study. Setting Sites across the United States. Participants Older women (N = 5,545, mean age 79 years) from the Women's Health Initiative Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health study. Measurements Accelerometers worn at the hip for up to 1 week collected measures of daily sedentary time and the mean sedentary bout duration, a commonly used metric for sedentary accumulation patterns. For up to 13 months after accelerometer wear, women reported daily whether they had fallen on monthly calendars. Results In fully adjusted models, the incident rate ratios (95% confidence interval) for quartiles 1 (lowest), 2, 3, and 4 of sedentary time respectively were 1.0 (ref.), 1.07 (0.93–1.24), 1.07 (0.91–1.25), and 1.14 (0.96–1.35; P ‐trend = .65) and for mean sedentary bout duration was 1.0 (ref.), 1.05 (0.92–1.21), 1.02 (0.88–1.17), and 1.17 (1.01–1.37; P ‐trend = .01), respectively. Women with a history of two or more falls had stronger associations between sedentary time and falls incidence compared with women with a history of no or one fall ( P for interaction = .046). Conclusions Older women in the highest quartile of mean sedentary bout duration had a significantly increased risk of falling. Women with a history of frequent falling may be at higher risk for falling if they have high sedentary time. Interventions testing whether shortening total sedentary time and/or sedentary bouts lowers fall risk are needed to confirm these observational findings.