Correlation Between Body Mass Index And Fear Of Fall On Functional Mobility In Elderly

ABSTRACT

Background: Functional mobility is defined as the ability of a person to move from place to place in the environment in order to participate in the activities of daily living. A person with overweight and obesity have a greater risk of experiencing mobility disability and those patients will have restrictions in activities at home, work, school and in the community thereby having a negative impact on their health related quality of life. Fear of falling in elderly is a major cause of loss of independence, which has an effect on the physical function in them. Purpose of the study To find out the relationship between BMI and fear of fall on functional mobility in elderly Result: Out of 30 subjects, 15 subjects were overweight and 15 were normal BMI. Out of 15 overweight subjects, 53.3% were males and 46.7% were females. The mean age of overweight participants was 68.46±2.77. The mean scores for BMI were 27.82±1.56, for FOF 4.93±1.09and for FM 21.53±3.99. FOF and FM were negatively correlated with Overweight. The correlation was not significant. Out of 15 subjects with normal BMI, 53.3% were males and 46.7% were females. The mean age of participants with normal BMI was 68.86±3.62. The mean scores for BMI were 21.40±1.61, for FOF 5.93±.883and for FM 19.26±3.55. FOF and FM were positively correlated with normal BMI. The correlation was not significant. Conclusion: The overweight individual have more fear of fall (FOF) compared with individuals with normal BMI. The functional mobility (FM) is decline in overweight individuals than individuals with normal BMI. Implications A decrease in sedentary lifestyle and regular physical activity can improve health related quality of life of elderly.