High Frequency of Recurrent Falls among Pre-frail and Frail Women with and without HIV.

BACKGROUND Frailty may occur at younger ages among HIV+ populations. We evaluated associations of frailty status with self-reported single and recurrent falls in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). METHODS Frailty status was defined using the Fried Frailty Phenotype (FFP) among 897 HIV+ and 392 HIV- women; median age 53 years. Women were classified as robust (FFP 0), prefrail (FFP 1-2) and frail (FFP 3-5). Stepwise logistic regression models adjusting for HIV status and study site were fit to evaluate associations of FFP with self-reported single (1 vs. 0) and recurrent falls (≥2 vs. 0) over the prior 12 months. RESULTS HIV+ women were less likely to be frail (9% vs.14% vs. p=0.009), but frequency of falls did not differ by HIV status. In multivariate analyses, recurrent falls were more common among prefrail [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.23, 95%CI: 1.40 - 3.57, p=0.0008] and frail (AOR 3.61, 95%CI: 1.90 - 6.89, p<0.0001) than robust women. Among HIV+ women, single (AOR 2.88, 95%CI: 1.16-7.20, p=0.023) and recurrent falls (AOR 3.50, 95%CI: 1.24-9.88, p= 0.018) were more common among those who were frail; recurrent, but not single falls, were more common among prefrail than robust HIV+ women (AOR 2.00, 95%CI: 1.03- 3.91, p= 0.042). CONCLUSIONS HIV+ women were less likely to be frail. Compared to robust women, prefrail and frail women with and without HIV were more likely to experience single or recurrent falls within a 12-month period. Additional studies are needed to develop interventions that decrease development of frailty and reduce risk of recurrent falls among HIV+ women.