Abstract
We investigated the association between perceived neighbourhood characteristics and falls in community-dwelling adults, using data from Wave 5 and 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We included 25,467 participants aged 50 to 103 years (mean age 66.2 ± 9.6, 58.5% women), from fourteen European countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland). At baseline, we recorded individual-level factors (socio-demographic, socio-economic and clinical factors), contextual-level factors (country, urban versus rural area, European region) and perceived neighbourhood characteristics (vandalism or crime, cleanliness, feeling part of neighbourhood, helpful neighbours, accessibility to services) for each participant. We recorded falls in the six months prior to the baseline and 2-year follow-up interviews. The associations between neighbourhood characteristics and falls were analysed by binary logistic regression models; odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were calculated. Participants reporting-versus not reporting-vandalism or crime had an increased falls risk of 1.16 (1.02–1.31) at follow-up, after full adjustment; lack of cleanliness, feeling part of the neighbourhood, perceiving neighbours as helpful and difficult accessibility to services were not associated with falls. Vandalism or crime was consistently associated with increased falls risks in women, adults without functional impairment and urban areas residents. In conclusion, adverse neighbourhood environments may account for inequality in falls risk among middle-aged and older adults and could be added to fall risk stratification tools.
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Data availability
Data are available upon request from the SHARE website (see http://www.share-project.org/data-access/user-registration.html).
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Acknowledgements
This paper uses data from SHARE Waves 5 and 6 for methodological details (Börsch-Supan A, Brandt M, Hunkler C, Kneip T, Korbmacher J, Malter F, Schaan B, Stuck S, Zuber S; SHARE Central Coordination Team. Data Resource Profile: the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Int J Epidemiol. 2013 Aug;42(4):992-1001.. Epub 2013 Jun 18. PMID: 23778574; PMCID: PMC3780997). The SHARE data collection has been funded by the European Commission through FP5 (QLK6-CT-2001-00360), FP6 (SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5-CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812), FP7 (SHARE-PREP: GA N°211909, SHARE-LEAP: GA N°227822, SHARE M4: GA N°261982, DASISH: GA N°283646) and Horizon 2020 (SHARE-DEV3: GA N°676536, SHARE-COHESION: GA N°870628, SERISS: GA N°654221, SSHOC: GA N°823782) and by DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion. Additional funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR06-11, OGHA_04-064, HHSN271201300071C) and from various national funding sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org).
Funding
Dr Giulia Ogliari was supported by Nottingham Hospitals Charity, Nottingham, UK (grant APP2380/N7359 (N7359 Osteoporosis & Falls Research for “Improving Quality of Life In Older Patients”).
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GO contributed to conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft. JR contributed to conceptualization, supervision, writing—review & editing. KA-R contributed to conceptualization, supervision, writing—review & editing. LLS-H contributed to conceptualization, methodology, writing—review & editing. TM contributed to conceptualization, supervision, writing—review & editing.
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Ogliari, G., Ryg, J., Andersen-Ranberg, K. et al. Perceived neighbourhood environment and falls among community-dwelling adults: cross-sectional and prospective findings from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Eur J Ageing 19, 1121–1134 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-022-00685-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-022-00685-3