Is social integration associated with the risk of falling in older community-dwelling women?
BACKGROUND
Social integration may lead to social support and influence that may in turn protect older community-dwelling adults from falls.


METHODS
We examined incident falls over 3 years across quartiles of social integration scores in 6692 Caucasian women enrolled in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (mean age = 77 +/- 5 years). Social integration was assessed using family networks, friendship networks, and interdependence scores. Higher scores correspond to greater integration. Data were analyzed using Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations. Multivariate analyses were used to adjust for other risk factors and potential confounders.


RESULTS
Women reported 11863 falls, averaging 0.60 falls per person annually, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.57, 0.63), or 600 falls per 1000 women. In age-adjusted analysis, the average incidence rate of falls correlated inversely with family networks, interdependence, and composite integration scores (p <.05). In multivariate analysis, increasing family networks were inversely associated with fall risk, p(trend) =.02. Compared to the lowest quartile, the relative risk of falls (95% CI) associated with family network scores in the second, third, and fourth quartiles were 0.90 (0.79-1.03), 0.86 (0.74-1.00), and 0.84 (0.71-0.99), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Strong family networks may protect against the risk of falls in older community-dwelling adults.
Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA. kaf24@pitt.edu
Kimberly A
KA
Faulkner
Jane A
JA
Cauley
Joseph M
JM
Zmuda
Joan M
JM
Griffin
Michael C
MC
Nevitt
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support