Change in static standing balance ability of community-residing elderly females after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.
Yuji Maruyama
PMID 35291472WHAT IT FOUND
One-legged standing time declined significantly in 2020.
The decline was significant in women 75 and older, but not in women 65 to 74.
Key findings
01The one-legged standing time recorded in 2020 was significantly different when compared with the last three years.
02The old-old group showed a statistically significant difference in 2020 compared with 2018 and 2019.
03No statistically significant difference was found in the young-old records.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Participants were selected non-randomly from older women who already attended community salons, so they may not represent older women who are less active or more frail. The study had no control group and cannot show that pandemic restrictions caused the change in balance. The number of women measured changed across years, with more than 2,000 older females tested from 2017 to 2019 and 558 in 2020, so it is unclear how consistently the same people were followed. The young-old group showed no significant difference, so the finding is not uniform across older women. Actual balance times are in a table not included, so the size of the change cannot be checked from the text.
Declared interests
None declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that pandemic restrictions caused balance loss or that all older women lost balance. The study had no control group, used non-random salon participants, and only women 75 and older showed a significant difference; women 65 to 74 did not.