Balance, mobility, and falls among elderly African American women.

Abstract

To compare balance, mobility, recent falls, and injuries among elderly African American and white women. This was a nonexperimental study. Participants, who were older than 65 yr of age, able to walk at least 30 ft, not residing in a nursing home, and with no acute medical problems, were recruited from 17 senior citizens' community centers. Compared with white women (n=180), African American women (n = 118) took fewer medications, had greater body mass indexes, had less muscle strength, and had more medical conditions and neurologic abnormalities. Additionally, these women were less active and had poorer performances on an obstacle course. The two groups had a similar histories of falls and injuries. For both groups, activity level and neurologic findings were predictors of obstacle course performance. For white women, muscle strength was an additional predictor of obstacle course performance. An additional predictor for African American women was range of motion. The poorer balance and mobility of African American women compared with white women may have consequences such as their functional dependence, resulting in their greater use of hospitals and formal and informal health services.