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Purpose: To determine whether combined performance-based models could exert better predictive values toward discriminating community-dwelling elderly with high risk of any-falls or recurrent-falls. Participants and Methods: This prospective cohort study included a total of 875 elderly participants (mean age: 67.10± 5.94 years) with 513 females and 362 males, recruited from Hangu suburb area of Tianjin, China. All participants completed comprehensive assessments. Methods: We documented information about sociodemographic information, behavioral characteristics and medical conditions. Three functional tests—timed up and go test (TUGT), walking speed (WS), and grip strength (GS) were used to create combined models. New onsets of any-falls and recurrent-falls were ascertained at one-year follow-up appointment. Results: In total 200 individuals experienced falls over a one-year period, in which 66 individuals belonged to the recurrent-falls group (33%). According to the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), the cutoff points of TUGT, WS, and GS toward recurrent-falls were 10.31 s, 0.9467 m/s and 0.3742 kg/kg respectively. We evaluated good performance as "+" while poor performance as "–". After multivariate adjustment, we found "TUGT > 10.31 s" showed a strong correlation with both any-falls (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=2.025; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.425– 2.877) and recurrent-falls (adjusted OR=2.150; 95%CI=1.169– 3.954). Among combined functional models, "TUGT > 10.31 s, GS < 0.3742 kg/kg, WS > 0.9467 m/s" showed strongest correlation with both any-falls (adjusted OR=5.499; 95%CI=2.982– 10.140) and recurrent-falls (adjusted OR=8.260; 95%CI=3.880– 17.585). And this combined functional model significantly increased discriminating abilities on screening recurrent-fallers than a single test (C-statistics=0.815, 95%CI=0.782– 0.884, P< 0.001), while not better than a single test in predicting any-fallers (P=0.083). Conclusion: Elderly people with poor TUGT performance, weaker GS but quicker WS need to be given high priority toward fall prevention strategies for higher risks and frequencies. Meanwhile, the combined "TUGT–, GS–, WS+" model presents increased discriminating ability and could be used as a conventional tool to discriminate recurrent-fallers in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reduced muscle strength, as measured by handgrip strength (HS), has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of this study was to examine the association between different HS indexes and CVD risk factors in elderly Chinese individuals. We also determine optimal cutoffs of HS indexes for predicting CVD risk factors.Methods: Data were obtained from 603 men and 789 women aged ≥60 years (average age 66.8 ± 6.4 y). These study participants were recruited in the suburb area of Tianjin, China. An individual was considered a patient when they exhibited any one of three CVD risk factors: diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia. All participants were interviewed face-to-face. In addition, serum samples were collected from all participants, and all participants underwent measures of anthropometry and HS.Results: The optimal cutoffs were 0.376 of HS/weight in men and 0.726 of HS/body fat mass in women for predicting diabetes mellitus. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of at least one CVD risk factor for those with low muscle strength identified by HS/body fat mass were 2.14 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.53, 3.44; p < 0.001) in men and 2.32 (95% CI: 1.60, 3.29; p < 0.001) in women.Conclusion: HS/body fat mass appear to be the index best associated with CVD risk factors except diabetes mellitus in men. The optimal cutoffs of HS indexes have the potential to identify elderly adults at risk of CVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological studies report that more than half of the people over the age of 65 years suffer from variable sleep problems. In this study, we conducted a cohort study to investigate the relationship between sleep duration, muscle mass, and function within a community-dwelling, elderly Chinese population. Our study population consisted of residents living in the township central hospital of suburban Tianjin, China. We measured muscle strength and walking speed. We divided sleep duration into the following four groups: <7 hours, 7-8 hours, >8-9 hours, and >9 hours. A total of 902 participants completed the 3-year follow-up. We observed a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and fall risk. Compared with the 7-8-hour group, fall risk within the <7-hour group was 3.67 (2.59, 5.42) times higher and fall risk within the >9-hour group was 2.35 (1.29, 3.52) times higher. After adjustment, muscle mass declined by -6.82% (-11.27%, -3.83%) in the <7-hour group. In summary, we observed a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and falls. Short sleep duration has a negative relationship with muscle mass decline in a community-dwelling, elderly Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]