Fear of falling keeps some middle-agers inactive

Not just the elderly, but also a good number of middle-aged adults are apparently afraid of falling. Nearly one-third of middle-aged African Americans say they are, and many curtail their activity as a result, new survey findings show.

Some people “who had never fallen, yet had a fear of falling, voluntarily restricted their activity due to this fear,” said study author Dr. Margaret-Mary Wilson.

Wilson, who is based at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri, said that although falls can cause injuries, these risks are far outweighed by the benefits of being active in middle age.

Adults who stop being active out of fear of falling will lose muscle mass, Wilson explained, which makes them weaker and more at risk of falling. People who curtail activity because of falling fears create a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” she said. “Staying active is critical to longevity.”

During the study, Wilson and her team surveyed 998 African American adults between 49 and 65 who lived in a poor inner city neighborhood and a more affluent suburban area. One-third said they had experienced a fall within the previous 2 years.

The researchers, who report their findings in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, found that 13 percent of adults said they were afraid of falling, and a similar number said they were so afraid of falling that they cut back on their activity as a result.

People who said they were less active because of falling fears tended to be in poorer health and have worse social, emotional and physical functioning than adults with no fear of falling. Those who lived in poor neighborhoods were more likely to say they were worried about falling.

Wilson explained that many adults may be overly concerned about falling because of socioeconomic disparities, which can create unsafe environments replete with dangerous roads and sidewalks.

Alternatively, some adults may have poor access to quality healthcare, and if they’ve witnessed a neighbor’s difficulty recovering from a fall, they may want to avoid a similar fate, Wilson noted.

“Thus, if one’s friends or family fared poorly after medical intervention for a fall, then one is more likely to dread the consequences of falling than if one’s peers with better access to health care recovered without complication after a fall,” she suggested.

And many adults may simply fear falling because they need to be mobile to survive, she suggested. “Uninsured adults living at subsistence level will suffer dire consequences from any event that adversely affects their productivity.”

Wilson added that she suspects to find the same results in non-African Americans, and hopes her findings encourage experts to educate adults about the importance of staying active, and various activities that can improve gait and balance, such as ballroom dancing and Tai Chi.

SOURCE: Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, May 2005.

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