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Table 1 Baseline assessment at enrolment

From: Pain and recurrent falls in the older and oldest-old non-institutionalized population

Variable

65–79 years

 

80 or more years

 

no pain - mild pain

moderate-severe pain

p

no pain - mild pain

moderate-severe pain

p

Age (years)

mean (SD)

72.16 (4.24)

71.54 (4.15)

0.368

84.81 (4.22)

84.67 (4.22)

0.702

minimum-maximum

65–79

65–79

 

80–99

80–100

 

Gender

women (%)

75 (49.34)

45 (78.95)

<  0.01

187 (58.62)

144 (71.29)

<  0.01

men

77 (50.66)

12 (21.05)

 

132 (41.38)

58 (28.71)

 

Education

university students (%)

11 (7.28)

3 (5.26)

0.452

18 (5.75)

3 (1.52)

0.038

middle school

21 (13.91)

4 (7.02)

33 (10.54)

14 (7.07)

elementary school

89 (58.94)

35 (61.40)

175 (55.91)

112 (56.57)

none

30 (19.87)

15 (26.32)

87 (27.80)

69 (34.85)

Address

live alone (nobody) (%)

26 (13.90)

17 (24.64)

0.054

95 (27.30)

52 (22.61)

0.272

partner/spouse

103 (55.08)

29 (42.03)

0.036

114 (32.76)

67 (29.13)

0.507

son/daughter

48 (25.67)

20 (28.96)

0.623

96 (27.59)

73 (31.74)

0.210

grandson/granddaughter

9 (4.81)

3 (4.35)

1.000

24 (6.90)

23 (10)

0.160

non-family caregiver

1 (0.53)

0

1.000

19 (5.46)

15 (6.52)

0.587

Technical assistance for walking at home

none (%)

137 (95.80)

49 (87.5)

0.614

234 (69.85)

115 (55.29)

<  0.01

furniture support

1 (0.70)

3 (5.36)

0.060

12 (3.58)

12 (5.77)

0.286

person

0

0

1000

9 (2.69)

9 (4.33)

0.334

cane (unipodal/English)/tripod

2 (1.40)

4 (7.14)

0.247

48 (14.33)

40 (19.23)

0.148

walker with/without wheels

1 (0.70)

0

1.000

18 (5.37)

13 (6.25)

0.584

wheelchair

2 (1.40)

0

1.000

14 (4.18)

19 (9.13)

0.027

Technical assistance for walking on the street

none (%)

130 (91.55)

50 (87.72)

0.648

190 (59.19)

86 (42.16)

<  0.01

furniture support

0

0

1.000

0

2 (0.98)

0.149

person

1 (0.70)

1 (1.75)

0.467

13 (4.05)

14 (6.86)

0.159

cane (unipodal/bipodal)/tripod

9 (6.34)

6 (10.53)

0.767

84 (26.17)

69 (33.82)

0.066

walker with/without wheels

1 (0.70)

0

1.000

12 (3.74)

12 (5.88)

0.235

wheelchair

1 (0.70)

0

1.000

22 (6.85)

21 (10.29)

0.190

Functional status (range 0–6; 0 independent)

mean (SD)

0.22 (0.63)

0.39 (0.98)

0.292

0.96 (1.74)

1.73 (2.17)

< 0.01

minimum-maximum

0–5

0–6

 

0–6

0–6

 

Body mass index

mean (SD)

28.84 (4.22)

29.12 (4.6)

0.828

28.07 (4.99)

29.11 (5.21)

0.037

≥ 1 fall in the previous 6 months (%)

32 (21.05)

12 (21.05)

1000

72 (22.64)

79 (39.11)

< 0.01

Chronic diseases

hypertension (%)

77 (50.66)

33 (57.89)

0.437

152 (47.65)

108 (53.47)

0.209

diabetes mellitus 2 (%)

29 (19.21)

11 (19.30)

1000

50 (15.67)

51 (25.25)

<  0.01

dyslipidaemia (%)

54 (35.76)

26 (45.61)

0.205

61 (19.18)

58 (28.71)

0.014

acute myocardial infarction/other heart diseases (%)

46 (15.18)

28 (24.56)

0.061

87 (13.81)

74 (18.32)

0.134

bronchial asthma/COPD (%)

37 (12.17)

8 (7.02)

0.639

79 (12.42)

52 (12.87)

0.751

arthrosis or arthritis (%)

74 (48.68)

47 (82.46)

< 0.01

169 (52.98)

158 (78.22)

< 0.01

osteoporosis (%)

18 (11.84)

19 (33.33)

<  0.01

35 (11.04)

52 (26)

< 0.01

good visual acuity (%)

134 (88.16)

48 (84.21)

0.489

249 (81.11)

155 (78.68)

0.567

Cognitive decline

Pfeiffer, 0–2 errors (%)

132 (88.59)

52 (91.23)

0.801

226 (73.14)

142 (70,30)

0.483

Pfeiffer, 3 or more errors

17

5

 

83

60

 

Affective symptoms (Yesavage test: 2 or more points) (%)

21 (13.91)

17 (29.82)

0.015

93 (31.31)

104 (53.06)

< 0.01

Balance (total score), range 0–7

mean (SD)

6.56 (0.98)

6.49 (0.98)

0.611

5.42 (2.13)

4.59 (2.37)

< 0.01

minimum-maximum

1–7

3–7

 

0–7

0–7

 

Total strength (total score), range 0–34

mean (SD)

32.69 (2.29)

31.98 (3.88)

0.322

28.94 (8.15)

23.83 (10.59)

< 0.01

minimum-maximum

20–34

12–34

 

0–34

0–34

 

Number of drugs

mean (SD)

3.56 (2.68)

4.77 (2.85)

<  0.01

4.06 (2.45)

5.06 (2.61)

< 0.01

minimum-maximum

0–12

0–11

 

0–11

0–12

 

1 or more drugs with risk of falls (%)

31 (20.39)

22 (38.60)

<  0.01

93 (29.15)

77 (38.12)

0.029

1 or more analgesics (%)

21 (14.29)

17 (30.36)

<  0.01

81 (25.47)

86 (43.22)

<  0.01

  1. SD standard deviation, IQR interquartile range, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease