The Effect of a Standing Intervention on Falls in Long Term Care: a Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundOlder adults in long term care (LTC) spend over 90% of their day engaging in sedentary behaviour. Sedentary behaviour may exacerbate functional decline and frailty, increasing the risk for falls. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of a 22-week standing intervention on falls among LTC residents at 12-month follow-up.MethodsThis was a planned secondary analysis of the Stand if You Can randomized controlled trial. The original trial randomized 95 participants (n=47 control; n=48 intervention) to either a sitting control or a supervised standing intervention group (100 minutes/week) for 22 weeks. Falls data were available to be collected over 12 months post-intervention for 89 par- ticipants. The primary outcome was a hazard of fall (Yes/No) during the 12-month follow-up period.ResultsA total of 89 participants (average age 86 years & PLUSMN; 8.05; 71.9% female) were followed for 12-months post-intervention. Par- ticipants in the intervention group (n=44) had a significantly greater hazard ratio of falls (2.01; 95% CI=1.11 to 3.63) than the control group (n=45) when accounting for the history of falls, frailty status, cognition level, and sex.ConclusionParticipants who received a standing intervention over 22 weeks were twice as likely to fall 12 months after the inter- vention compared with the control group. However, the prevalence of falls did not surpass what would be typically observed in LTC facilities. It is imperative that future stud- ies describe in detail the context in which falls happen and collect more characteristics of participants in the follow-up period to truly understand the association between standing more and the risk of falls.