Key clinical point: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have distinct clinical and biomechanical factors that place them at an increased risk for falls.
Major finding: The fallers vs. nonfallers were older ( P = .05), had significantly higher pain scores ( P less than .01), experienced dizziness ( P less than .01), and were taking psychotropic medications ( P = .02). The fallers vs. nonfallers had significantly higher anteroposterior sway ( P = .03) and sway range ( P = .02) and medial-lateral sway ( P = .01) and sway range ( P = .02) when standing with eyes open and a greater asymmetry during isometric extension at 90° ( P = .05) and 60° ( P = .02).
Study details: This was a nested case-control biomechanical analysis of 436 patients (aged 60 years or older) with RA who completed a 1-year prospective survey of falls.
Disclosures: This work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit, and NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Smith TO et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Apr 26. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keab388.