Risk of falls in patients with arthritis: results from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)

Background Arthritis is a common chronic disease often accompanied by pain and activity limitation, which significantly affects the quality of life of older adults and may increase the risk of falls. This study aimed to clarify the association between arthritis and fall risk and its influencing factors. Methods Data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were compared between participants with and without arthritis. The effect of arthritis on the incidence of falls was assessed by propensity score matching (PSM) method, adjusting for potential confounders, and using multiple statistical models (e.g., multivariate logistic regression and inverse probability weighting model) to calculate the odds ratio (OR) for falls and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results A total of 9553 subjects were included, and the overall incidence of falls was 40.7%. The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data rate for patients with arthritis was 25.6%, whereas the incidence of falls in patients without arthritis was 22.0%. Multivariate analysis showed that the ratio of falls in arthritis patients was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.82 to 0.99, P = 0.042). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses showed that the results were stable and reliable. Conclusions This study confirms the significance of fall risk in patients with arthritis and suggests the development of fall prevention strategies for patients with arthritis to improve their health outcomes.