title: Postural balance in elderly people: changes over a five-year follow-up and its predictive value for survival.
abstract: Postural balance in three test conditions (normal standing with eyes open, normal standing with eyes closed, and tandem standing with eyes open) was measured in samples of 75-year-old men and women (N=757) living in three Nordic localities (Glostrup in Denmark, Göteborg in Sweden, and Jyväskylä in Finland). The subjects were re-tested five years later when they had reached the age of 80 years (N=434). The results showed a highly significant longitudinal decline in balancing abilities in all localities and in both sexes. The longitudinal change was larger than suggested by cross-sectional comparisons. On both occasions women showed better results in the balance tests than men in all three localities. Inter-locality differences observed at baseline (somewhat poorer performance among the subjects from Göteborg) largely remained during the follow-up. The simplest balance test, normal standing with eyes open, was also a significant predictor for survival over the 5-year follow-up: the results at baseline were poorer in those subjects who died during the follow-up than in the survivors. It is concluded that postural balance deteriorates markedly from 75 to 80 years of age; at high ages a poor performance in balance tests may also indicate below-average survival.
authors.affiliation: Finnish Centre for Interdisciplinary Gerontology, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, and Brain Research and Rehabilitation Center Neuron. pertti.era@metitur.fi
authors.forename: Pertti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Era
authors.forename: Eino
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heikkinen
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gause-Nilsson
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schroll
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D015996:Survival Rate