title: Fear of falling and falls in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Cognitive impairment and fear of falling are risk factors for falls in older adults. Recurrent falls are more prevalent in older adults with cognitive impairment. We examined the number of previous falls, self-reported fear of falling, and the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) in 104 older adults [26 with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), 42 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 36 cognitively healthy]. Older adults with AD and MCI had a higher number of falls (1.1 ± 1.2 and 1.5 ± 1.5, respectively) compared to the control group (0.3 ± 0.5, P < .001). Older adults with MCI more often reported fear of falling (74%) than patients with AD (31%) (P ≤ .002) and scored higher on the FES-I (29.7 and 23.8, respectively, P ≤ .01). The prevalence of falls in older adults with MCI and AD is higher than in subjects cognitively healthy. Older adults with MCI and AD differ in terms of reported fear of falling and falls self-efficacy.
authors.affiliation: a Laboratory of Neuroscience (LIM-27), Department and Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine , University of São Paulo , São Paulo , Brazil.
authors.forename: Sheila de Melo
authors.initials: Sde M
authors.lastname: Borges
authors.forename: Márcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radanovic
authors.forename: Orestes Vicente
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Forlenza
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; falls; fear of falling; mild cognitive impairment