Older Adults With Hip Osteoarthritis and Chronic Low Back Pain May Be at Risk of Falls

A study by University of Delaware researchers published in Arthritis Research & Therapy found older adults with concurrent hip osteoarthritis (OA) and chronic low back pain (CLBP) may be at elevated risk for accidental falls, reports Healio . The team prospectively tracked 210 adults 65 to 80 years old with CLBP for one year, and 97.1 percent exhibited signs and symptoms of hip OA. The authors recorded 219 falls from 42.4 percent of patients during the study period. Compared with patients who fell only once, the hip OA impairment burden was "significantly greater" among those who fell twice or more. Moreover, binary logistic regression uncovered a link between higher hip OA impairment burden and greater fall risk. The risk ratio for elevated fall risk among this subset was 1.23, while the odds ratio of multiple falls was 1.41. "Older adults with CLBP and concomitant hip impairments are an at-risk group for falling," the researchers concluded. "Healthcare professionals should employ falls screening and preventive measures to avoid negative sequelae in this vulnerable population."