ArticleBMC geriatrics2026
Associations of frailty and cognitive impairment with fall risk in older adults: a longitudinal cohort study based on CHARLS.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFalls are one of the leading causes of disability and mortality in older adults. Frailty and cognitive impairment are recognized as key risk factors, but their joint impact on fall risk and the underlying association remain unclear.
methodsThis study utilized data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, with a 7-year follow-up period (2011–2018). The study included 6,274 participants aged ≥ 60 years. Follow-up surveys were conducted at approximately 2-year intervals to assess the incidence of falls.Frailty was assessed using a modified physical frailty phenotype, and cognitive function was measured with standardized memory and executive function tests. Logistic regression, moderation, and mediation models were applied to examine the independent and interactive effects of frailty and cognitive impairment on falls, with multivariable adjustment for demographic, behavioral, and clinical factors.
resultsDuring the 7-year follow-up, 19.4% of participants reported at least one fall. Frailty was independently associated with increased fall risk (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.35–3.12), as was cognitive impairment (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.27–1.71). Moderation analysis showed a significant interaction, indicating that cognitive impairment amplified the association between frailty and falls (P for interaction < 0.001). Mediation analysis further revealed that cognitive impairment partially mediated the frailty–falls association, accounting for 49.4% of the total effect. These associations were consistent across demographic subgroups and robust to sensitivity analyses.
conclusionThis study provides longitudinal evidence that frailty and cognitive impairment synergistically increase the risk of falls in older adults through both moderation and mediation pathways. In this longitudinal cohort of older Chinese adults, our findings suggest that frailty and cognitive impairment may jointly increase fall risk, with evidence of both statistical moderation and mediation. These findings highlight the importance of jointly assessing frailty and cognition in fall prevention and suggest that targeted interventions in cognitively frail populations may yield greater benefits.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.