The Association between Different Levels of Alcohol Use and Gait under Single and Dual Task in Community-Dwelling Older Persons Aged 65 to 70 Years

Table 1

Characteristics of participants and comparison according to alcohol intake.

	Total	Drinking groups				value
		Not drinking	Light-to-moderate	At-risk	Heavy
100%	8.8%	61.0%	21.1%	9.2%
Age (mean ± SD)	67.0 ± 1.4	67.2 ± 1.4	67.0 ± 1.4	66.8 ± 1.3	67.0 ± 1.4		.221
Men (%)	46.3	25.4	44.1	53.5	64.9	<.001
Low education (%)^†	64.2	70.4	62.3	65.7	67.6	.480
Comorbidity (2^+ chronic diseases, %)^‡	46.2	59.2	45.5	45.0	40.5	.001
Cognitive impairment (%)^§	1.9	5.7	1.6	1.8	0.0	.067
Instrumental ADLs impairment (%)	10.5	16.9	8.5	12.9	12.2	.094
Basic ADLs impairment (%)	7.6	14.1	6.1	7.7	10.8	.073
Fear of falling (%)	37.5	45.4	37.0	35.0	39.1	.508
Any fall over the past 12 months (%)	16.5	23.9	17.4	9.6	18.8	.034
Single task: walking at usual speed
(i) Gait speed (m/s, mean ± SD)	1.13 ± .16	1.10 ± 0.17	1.14 ± 0.15	1.14 ± 0.15	1.11 ± 0.18	.194
(ii) Gait speed CV (%)	3.52	3.58	3.44	3.30	3.64	.410
Dual task: walking while counting backwards
(i) Gait speed (m/s, mean ± SD)	0.99 ± 0.19	0.94 ± 0.20	1.00 ± 0.19	1.00 ± 0.18	0.97 ± 0.20	.061
(ii) Gait speed CV (%)	6.22	6.68	6.09	5.93	6.48	.256

value from Chi-square test (categorical variables) or ANOVA (continuous variables).
^†Defined as less than 12 years of education (compulsory school or apprenticeship).
^‡Defined as self-reporting 2 or more conditions out of the following list: hypertension, coronary heart disease, other heart diseases, stroke, diabetes mellitus, chronic respiratory disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, gastrointestinal ulcer, depression, Parkinson disease, and cancer.
^§Defined as a score <24/30 at Folstein’s Minimental State Examination.
Instrumental activities of daily living include shopping and performing usual household activities. Basic activities of daily living were bathing, dressing, using the toilet, transferring from and to bed or chair, and feeding.