Associations of Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference With Falls Among Community-dwelling Older Adults in Korea
- Author:
Seonho KIM
1
;
Jeong-Soo IM
;
Beomman HA
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- From:Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health 2026;59(3):328-336
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Objectives:This study aimed to investigate the association between obesity and falls among community-dwelling older adults in Korea and to assess whether body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference (WC) more accurately predicts fall risk.
Methods:This study included 4378 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years from the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016–2018). Complex-sample logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between general and central obesity and falls, stratified by sex and age group. Predictive accuracy was evaluated using Harrell’s C-index, and differences between WC and BMI were assessed using the ΔC-index and the DeLong test.
Results:BMI-defined general obesity was not significantly associated with falls. In contrast, WC-defined central obesity was significantly associated with falls among older adults overall (adjusted odds ratio, 1.82; 95% confidence interval, 1.20 to 2.76). In sex-stratified analyses, central obesity remained significantly associated with falls in both males and females. Age-stratified analyses showed a significant association between central obesity and falls among adults aged 65–74 years, but not among those aged ≥75 years. WC demonstrated a modest but statistically significant improvement in predictive ability compared with BMI (ΔC-index=0.047, p=0.044), although subgroup differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusions:Central obesity, but not general obesity defined by BMI, was significantly associated with falls among community-dwelling older Korean adults. WC showed slightly better predictive performance than BMI. These findings suggest that WC may be a more appropriate indicator than BMI for identifying older adults at increased risk of falls.
