Associations of sleep and exercise with fall risk among community oldest old people in Tangshan city

  Objective  To explore associations of sleep and exercise with fall risk among oldest old people in communities of Tangshan city, Hebei province and to provide references for developing intervention measures.

  Methods  We carried out a household survey among 3 448 community residents aged ≥ 75 years recruited with stratified random cluster sampling in Tangshan city of Hebei province between July 2016 and January 2017. A general questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Modified Falls Risk for Older People in the Community (FROP-Com) were adopted in the study.

  Results  The mean score of fall risk was 8.19 ± 6.74 for all the participants. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that the participants at older age, living alone or divorced, withou frequent exercise, having poor sleep quality, having more waking up at night or early awakening, with more use of hypnotic drugs, and reporting more sleep-induced pain were at a higher risk of falling.

  Conclusion  Sleep problems or lack of regular exercise could increase fall risk among oldest old community residents in urban Tangshan.