Effects of obesity on postural balance and occurrence of falls in asymptomatic adults
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-5918.033.AO50Abstract
Introduction: Previous studies suggested that body weight is a strong predictor for postural balance. High body mass index (BMI) presented an association with increased postural sway. However, it seems controversial since studies reported no difference between obese and control group regarding the position of the center of pressure in static postural balance (PB). Also, there is a lack of investigations about the impact of obesity on PB, free of the confound effect of cardiometabolic risk. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of obesity in static PB and occurrence of falls in asymptomatic adults and older adults over 40 years old. Method: The PB of 624 subjects divided into quartiles for BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height and fat body mass as percentage (%FBM) was assessed with and without vision using a force platform. An MANOVA was used to determine if there were differences between quartiles and a logistic regression analysis adjusted for confounders variables were applied to determine the obesity role in the occurrence of falls. Results: We found weak to moderate bivariate correlations between obesity and static PB, which became non-significant after adjustment. We found significant differences between first and fourth quartiles, especially using %FBM. Obesity was not related to the occurrence of falls since the odds ratio values became non-significant for all the indices of obesity after adjustment. Conclusion: Obesity presents little influence on maintaining static PB and seems not to determine the occurrence of falls among subjects over 40 years old.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors guarantee that the works submitted to this journal are original and were not prepared in violation of any third party rights, having obtained all the necessary authorizations to include complementary content, such as, but not restricted to, translations, illustrations, tables and citations, whose precise sources the author also undertakes to indicate. The authors also declare that the works do not contain defamatory statements that violate morals, good customs and/or that violate intellectual property rights.
When submitting your paper, the Copyright Assignment signed by all authors must be attached.