{"id":11398,"date":"2024-12-02T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T05:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/?p=11398"},"modified":"2024-12-01T22:08:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T21:08:04","slug":"falls-and-patterns-of-physical-activity-participation-over-18-years-in-the-australian-longitudinal-study-on-womens-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/2024\/12\/02\/falls-and-patterns-of-physical-activity-participation-over-18-years-in-the-australian-longitudinal-study-on-womens-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Falls and patterns of physical activity participation over 18 years in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women\u2019s Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authors<\/strong>: <\/span>Wing Kwok,<\/span> Saman Khalatbari-Soltani, Xenia Dolja-Gore, Julie Byles, Juliana Oliveira, Marina Pinheiro, Anne Tiedemann, Catherine Sherrington<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This blog provides a summary of a recent study published in BJSM.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is this study important?<\/h3>\n

Falls are a recurring problem for older people, with more than one in three experiencing at least one fall every year. Falls can cause serious injuries, decrease ability to move around, and even prevent one from being able to do things independently at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The World Health Organization recommends adults undertake at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week. Previous studies, mostly clinical trials with short follow-up time, have shown that structured exercise, including balance and functional exercise, reduces falls. However, the long-term effects of total physical activity participation from mid-life to older age on falls are unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and describe different patterns of physical activity participation in women from mid-life to older age, and examine the associations between patterns of physical activity participation and falls when these women were in their early 70s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did the study go about this?<\/h3>\n

This study involved over 11,000 women in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women\u2019s Health, which surveyed middle-aged women every three years since 1998. Over 18 years, participants reported weekly levels of physical activity participation from three types of activities: brisk walking and moderate and vigorous-intensity leisure physical activity. When participants aged 68 to 73 years, they were asked about falls with and without injuries they had experienced in the past 12 months.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What did the study find?<\/h3>\n

We discovered five distinct patterns of physical activity participation from mid-life to older age. They are:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n