Among 775 community-dwelling older adults in rural Taiwan (mean age 79.4), impairment across multiple intrinsic capacity domains assessed under the WHO ICOPE framework was associated with a history of falls, with risk rising as the number of affected domains increased. The findings support cumulative, multi-domain screening rather than single-deficit assessment for identifying fall-prone older adults in primary and community care settings.
Key Points
- Multi-domain intrinsic capacity decline associated with fall history in elders
- Risk accumulated as more ICOPE domains showed impairment
- Rural community screening identified fall-prone adults before injury occurred
Longevity Analysis
Falls are rarely a failure of one system; they emerge where mobility, balance, sensory input, cognition, and mood degrade simultaneously, each loss amplifying the others. Counting impaired domains converts vague frailty into a tractable signal that can be tracked over time and acted on, shifting attention upstream from fracture repair to preserving the capacities that keep an older adult upright. Serial screening matters more than any single measurement, since the trajectory — not the snapshot — determines whether added years remain functional ones.
Original published by SAGE Research on Aging, by Ching-Chu Liao, Heng-Shun Chen, Mei-Yin Liu, Yi-Chun Hung, Kai-Lin Liang1Department of Nursing, 38011Puli Christian Hospital, Puli Township, Nantou County, Taiwan2Department of Nursing, 59433National Chi Nan University, Puli Township, Nantou County, Taiwan338011Department of Family Medicine, Puli Christian Hospital, Puli Township, Nantou County, Taiwan4Aging Health and Long-Term Care Management for Indigenous Undergraduate Program, 59433National Chi Nan University, Puli Township, Nantou County, Taiwan5Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Population Health Sciences, 50115National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli County, Taiwan.