Age-related self-overestimation of step-over ability in healthy older adults and its relationship to fall risk

BMC Geriatrics

Kuniyasu Imanaka¹  Hayato Uchida²  Takahiro Higuchi¹  Masami Ishihara¹  Yoshinori Fujiwara³  Ryota Sakurai⁴ 

[1]Health Promotion Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan

[2]School of Human Science & Environment, University of Hyogo, 8-2-1, Gakuennishi-machi, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo, 651-2197, Japan

[3]Research Team for Social Participation and Community Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35-2 Sakae-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-0015, Japan

[4]Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan

关键词: Psychomotor performance;    Safety;    Judgment;    Accidental falls;    Stepping-over;    Self-assessment;    Aging;   

Others  :  857707
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2318-13-44

 received in 2013-01-12, accepted in 2013-04-30,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Older adults could not safely step over an obstacle unless they correctly estimated their physical ability to be capable of a successful step over action. Thus, incorrect estimation (overestimation) of ability to step over an obstacle could result in severe accident such as falls in older adults. We investigated whether older adults tended to overestimate step-over ability compared with young adults and whether such overestimation in stepping over obstacles was associated with falls.

Methods

Three groups of adults, young-old (age, 60–74 years; n, 343), old-old (age, >74 years; n, 151), and young (age, 18–35 years; n, 71), performed our original step-over test (SOT). In the SOT, participants observed a horizontal bar at a 7-m distance and estimated the maximum height (EH) that they could step over. After estimation, they performed real SOT trials to measure the actual maximum height (AH). We also identified participants who had experienced falls in the 1 year period before the study.

Results

Thirty-nine young-old adults (11.4%) and 49 old-old adults (32.5%) failed to step over the bar at EH (overestimation), whereas all young adults succeeded (underestimation). There was a significant negative correlation between actual performance (AH) and self-estimation error (difference between EH and AH) in the older adults, indicating that older adults with lower AH (SOT ability) tended to overestimate actual ability (EH > AH) and vice versa. Furthermore, the percentage of participants who overestimated SOT ability in the fallers (28%) was almost double larger than that in the non-fallers (16%), with the fallers showing significantly lower SOT ability than the non-fallers.

Conclusions

Older adults appear unaware of age-related physical decline and tended to overestimate step-over ability. Both age-related decline in step-over ability, and more importantly, overestimation or decreased underestimation of this ability may raise potential risk of falls.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Sakurai et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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