@article {9499, title = {BMI and Central Obesity With Falls Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults}, journal = {American Journal of Preventive Medicine}, volume = {54}, year = {2018}, pages = {e59-e66}, abstract = {Introduction: This study examined the associations of BMI category and central obesity status, with falls among community-dwelling older adults in the U.S. Methods: Data were drawn from the 2012 and 2014 U.S. Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal panel study funded by the National Institute of Aging. The study participants were U.S. community-dwelling older adults aged >=65 years (N=3,383). Multiple logistic regression and Poisson regression analyses examined the associations of BMI category and central obesity (waist circumference >102 cm in men and >88 cm in women) with experiencing a fall and fall injury, after adjusting for all other covariates. A prospective analysis was conducted in which independent variables from 2012 were examined in relation to dependent variables measured in the same participants in 2014. Results: Overall, 35.2\% of older adults experienced at least one fall in the past 2 years. Compared with those who were not, centrally obese older adults were more likely to experience a fall (AOR=1.37, 95\% CI=1.01, 1.85) and fall more frequently (incidence rate ratio=1.15, 95\% CI=1.03, 1.29). Fallers in the obese BMI category were less likely than normal-weight fallers to experience a fall injury (AOR=0.56, 95\% CI=0.35, 0.91). Conclusions: These findings suggest that (1) central obesity be measured when assessing older adults{\textquoteright} fall risk and (2) specific community prevention strategies for centrally obese older adults be developed to better prevent falls and fall-related injuries.}, keywords = {BMI, Community-dwelling, Falls, Risk Factors}, issn = {07493797}, doi = {10.1016/j.amepre.2017.12.020}, url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0749379717307523http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0749379717307523?httpAccept=text/xmlhttp://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0749379717307523?httpAccept=text/plain}, author = {Cho, Beom-Young and Seo, Dong-Chul and Hsien-Chang Lin and David K Lohrmann and Andrea K. Chomistek} }