Table 1 Characteristics of non-fallers, fallers and recurrent fallers.

From: Falls and Recurrent Falls among Adults in A Multi-ethnic Asian Population: The Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases Study

Characteristics

Non-fallers (N = 8,534)

Fallers (N = 1,475)

P value*

Recurrent fallers (N = 498)

P value^

Age, years

58.4 (10.2)

61.5 (10.8)

<0.001

61.8 (10.8)

<0.001

Female gender

4,143 (48.6)

935 (63.4)

<0.001

338 (67.9)

<0.001

Ethnicity

    Malay

2,786 (32.7)

480 (32.5)

0.001

162 (32.5)

<0.001

    Indian

2,837 (33.2)

555 (37.6)

 

204 (41.0)

 

    Chinese

2,911 (34.1)

440 (29.8)

 

132 (26.5)

 

BMI, kg/m2

25.3 (4.7)

26.0 (5.0)

<0.001

26.3 (5.3)

<0.001

Diabetes

2,407 (29.6)

547 (39.1)

<0.001

204 (43.4)

<0.001

Hyperlipidemia

3,707 (44.8)

690 (48.7)

0.007

235 (49.8)

0.035

Hypertension

5,150 (60.5)

1,004 (68.3)

<0.001

347 (70.0)

<0.001

Chronic kidney disease

976 (11.9)

235 (16.8)

<0.001

90 (19.2)

<0.001

Cardiovascular disease

855 (10.0)

225 (15.3)

<0.001

105 (21.2)

<0.001

Systemic comorbidities#

    No systemic disease

1,785 (22.3)

215 (15.8)

<0.001

64 (14.2)

<0.001

     Any 1 systemic disease

2,425 (30.2)

371 (27.3)

 

106 (23.6)

 

     Any 2 systemic diseases

2,076 (25.9)

351 (25.9)

 

111 (24.7)

 

     ≥3 systemic diseases

1,732 (21.6)

421 (31.0)

 

169 (37.6)

 

Cognitive impairment†

493 (13.4)

172 (20.5)

<0.001

63 (22.1)

<0.001

Deafness

29 (0.3)

15 (1.0)

<0.001

10 (2.0)

<0.001

EQ-5D score

0.87 (0.2)

0.77 (0.2)

<0.001

0.72 (0.3)

<0.001

Housing categories

     1–2 room public flat

579 (6.8)

156 (10.6)

<0.001

66 (13.3)

<0.001

     3–4 room public flat

5,302 (62.2)

900 (61.1)

 

309 (62.1)

 

     ≥5 room public flat/private housing

2,643 (31.0)

418 (28.4)

 

123 (24.7)

 

Living alone

399 (4.7)

95 (6.5)

0.004

37 (7.4)

0.005

Education level

     No formal education

1,859 (21.8)

472 (32.1)

<0.001

173 (34.8)

<0.001

     Primary education

3,225 (37.9)

497 (33.8)

 

180 (36.2)

 

     Secondary education or above

3,435 (40.3)

503 (34.2)

 

144 (29.0)

 

Monthly income <2000SGD

6,388 (76.5)

1,227 (84.4)

<0.001

443 (89.9)

<0.001

     Current smoker

1,428 (16.8)

170 (11.5)

<0.001

57 (11.5)

0.002

     Alcohol consumption

730 (8.6)

117 (7.9)

0.422

42 (8.4)

0.916

  1. N = number of participants, SD = standard deviation; BMI = the body mass index; EQ-5D = the European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions; SGD = the Singapore Dollar.
  2. Data presented as number (%), except for age, BMI and EQ-5D score which are expressed as mean (standard deviation).
  3. #Systemic comorbidities were classified based on the concurrent presence of two or more systemic conditions such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, chronic kidney disease or cardiovascular disease.
  4. *P value refers to comparison between non-fallers and fallers.
  5. ^P value refers to comparison between non-fallers and recurrent fallers.
  6. All P values were obtained with unpaired-t test for continuous variables, chi-square test for categorical variables.
  7. †Cognitive impairment data was only available for subjects aged 60 years and above.
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