Mild Neurocognitive Disorder, Social Engagement, and Falls Among Older Primary Care Patients.
Lien T Quach, Mette M Pedersen, Elisa Ogawa and 8 others
PMID 36513122WHAT IT FOUND
Older patients with mild neurocognitive disorder reported more falls, but social engagement alone was not linked to falls.
The link between mild neurocognitive disorder and falls was stronger when social engagement was low, and the study did not test whether engagement changes fall risk.
Key findings
01Participants with mild neurocognitive disorder had a 60% higher rate of falls than participants without it after adjustment.
02Social engagement by itself was not associated with the rate of falls.
03The association between mild neurocognitive disorder and falls was present among participants with low social engagement and absent among those with high social engagement.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was observational, so it cannot show that social engagement caused fewer falls. It was a secondary analysis of Boston RISE data, not a trial of an intervention. The sample was not population-based and was limited to Boston-area primary care patients, so results may not apply elsewhere. Social engagement and falls were self-reported, which can introduce recall bias. Social engagement and cognition were measured only at baseline, so changes over time were not assessed. The sample size was relatively small, so the study could not examine subtypes of mild neurocognitive disorder. Participants with severe cognitive impairment, severe physical limitation, terminal illness, and other serious conditions were excluded, so results do not speak to those groups.
Declared interests
The authors reported no financial or personal conflicts. The study was supported by NIH grant R01AG032052.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing social engagement will reduce falls. The study observed associations at baseline, did not test an intervention, and social engagement alone was not associated with fall rate.