The association of falls with loneliness and social exclusion: evidence from the DEAS German Ageing Survey

BMC Geriatrics

Table 2 Pairwise cross-sectional correlations (with Bonferroni-adjusted significance level; German Ageing Survey; fifth wave; n = 7808)

	Social exclusion	Loneliness	Number of important people in regular contact	Gender: Female	Age in years	Marital status: other marital statuses	Monthly net equivalent income in Euro	Body-Mass-Index (BMI)	Smoking status	Consumption of alcohol	Physical activity	Subjective health	Number of physical illnesses	Fall in the preceding 12 months
Social exclusion	1.00
Loneliness	0.51^***	1.00
Number of important people in regular contact	−0.08^***	−0.13^***	1.00
Gender: Female	0.03	−0.07^***	0.07^***	1.00
Age in years	0.03	−0.05^**	−0.12^***	−0.10^***	1.00
Marital status: other marital statuses	0.10^***	0.10^***	−0.12^***	0.15^***	0.03	1.00
Monthly net equivalent income in Euro	−0.17^***	−0.10^***	0.12^***	−0.05^***	−0.09^***	−0.09^***	1.00
Body-Mass-Index (BMI)	0.07^***	0.05^**	−0.03	−0.11^***	0.03	−0.01	−0.11^***	1.00
Smoking status	−0.05^**	−0.08^***	0.03	0.10^***	0.22^***	−0.09^***	0.03	−0.01	1.00
Consumption of alcohol	0.13^***	0.05^**	−0.09^***	0.28^***	0.03	0.12^***	−0.17^***	0.10^***	0.03	1.00
Physical activity	0.12^***	0.07^***	−0.15^***	−0.07^***	0.09^***	0.05^**	−0.17^***	0.19^***	−0.14^***	0.11^***	1.00
Subjective health	0.24^***	0.19^***	−0.10^***	−0.02	0.14^***	0.04⁺	−0.16^***	0.22^***	−0.06^***	0.15^***	0.22^***	1.00
Number of physical illnesses	0.22^***	0.17^***	−0.05^**	−0.04^*	0.35^***	0.06^***	−0.14^***	0.21^***	0.03	0.09^***	0.14^***	0.44^***	1.00
Fall in the preceding 12 months	0.11^***	0.09^***	−0.01	0.08^***	0.13^***	0.06^***	−0.03	0.06^***	0.03	0.06^***	0.04⁺	0.18^***	0.23^***	1.00

*** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01, * p < 0.05, + p < 0.10. Social exclusion was assessed using a scale developed by Bude and Lantermann (2006), ranging from 1 to 4 (higher values reflect higher perceived social exclusion); Loneliness was assessed using a short version (Gierveld and Van Tilburg 2006) of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (Gierveld and Kamphuls 1985), ranging from 1 to 4 (higher values reflect higher perceived loneliness). Number of important people in regular contact: ranging from 0 to 9; Gender: Ref.: Male; Marital status: Ref.: married and living together with spouse; Smoking status: ranging from 1 = ‘daily’ to 4 = ‘never been a smoker’; Consumption of alcohol: ranging from 1 = ‘daily’ to 6 = ‘never’; Physical activity: ranging from 1 = ‘daily’ to 6 = ‘never’; Subjective health: ranging from 1 = ‘very good’ to 5 = ‘very bad’; Falls: Ref.: Not experiencing a fall in the preceding 12 months; Categorical variables were treated as continuous variables for reasons of simplicity

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