Psychological status and physical performance are independently associated with autonomic function

Table 1 Characteristics of participants

	Fall in the past 2 months		p-value
	Yes (N = 37)	No (N = 25)	p-value
Age, years (mean ± s.d.)	74.26 ± 8.86	70.88 ± 7.22	0.116
Body mass index, kg/m2, (mean ± s.d.)	24.85 ± 5	23.43 ± 5.58	0.297
Gender, female, n (%)	22 (57.9)	17 (68.0)	0.427
Ethnicity, n (%)			0.859
Malay	8 (21.1)	5 (20.0)
Chinese	24 (63.2)	17 (68.0)
Indian	6 (15.8)	3 (12.0)
Education, n (%)			0.161
No formal	3 (8.1)	2 (8.3)
Primary	9 (24.3)	2 (8.3)
Secondary	15 (40.5)	9 (37.5)
Tertiary	10 (27.0)	11 (45.8)
Physical performance (mean ± s.d.)
Time-up-and-go (TUG) test	23.23 ± 18.45	14.66 ± 13.06	0.049^*
Functional reach	23 ± 7.76	26.04 ± 7.55	0.130
Hand grip strength (right)	16.28 ± 5.2	20.91 ± 7.03	0.004*
Hand grip strength (left)	14.22 ± 5.51	19.57 ± 6.75	0.001**
Psychological status (mean ± s.d.)
DASS-21 Depression	4.65 ± 6.73	1.84 ± 3.95	0.043*
DASS-21 Stress	6.32 ± 7.73	3.84 ± 5.59	0.173
DASS-21 Anxiety	5.24 ± 5.38	2.56 ± 4.38	0.043*
FES-1	13. 34 ± 5.7	9.84 ± 3.65	0.004*
Physical activity (mean ± s.d.)
PASE	64.05 ± 52.7	114.20 ± 48.25	< 0.001**
LAWTON	5.32 ± 2.86	7.32 ± 1.57	0.001**
Baseline haemodynamic parameters (mmHg)
Supine SBP	120.48 ± 19.1	107.9 ± 15.49	0.008*
Supine DBP	77.2 ± 16.1	72.92 ± 11.71	0.257
Supine HR	71.58 ± 11	68.92 ± 9.48	0.326

DASS-21 Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21, FES-1 Falls Efficacy Scale-1, PASE Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly, LAWTON Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale, SBP systolic blood pressure, DBP diastolic blood pressure, HR heart rate
^*Independent T-test p-value < 0.05
^**Independent T-test p-value < 0.001

ISSN: 1475-925X