To systematically analyze the influencing factors for fear of falling in the elderly.

Computer search was used to search CNKI, VIP, Wanfang Database, China Biology Medicine disc, PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO and Cochrane Library to obtain studies on the influencing factors for fear of falling in the elderly. The search time was from the establishment of the database to February 2023. Meta-analysis of data was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.

A total of 21 articles were included, including 16 cross-sectional studies, 3 case-control studies and 2 cohort studies and containing 27 025 older adults. The results of Meta-analysis showed that old age (OR=1.64, 95%CI: 1.22-2.19) , female (OR=2.19, 95%CI: 1.44-3.35) , chronic disease (OR=1.61, 95%CI: 1.36-1.90) , fall history (OR=2.89, 95%CI: 2.28-3.66) , depression (OR=1.94, 95%CI: 1.39-2.71) , frailty (OR=8.05, 95%CI: 4.01-16.16) , low activities of daily living (OR=2.47, 95%CI: 2.05-2.96) , poor mobility (OR=1.39, 95%CI: 1.17-1.65) and the need to use a walking aid (OR=1.87, 95%CI: 1.42-2.48) were risk factors for fear of falling in the elderly (P<0.05) .

There are many risk factors for fear of falling in the elderly , including advanced age, female , chronic diseases, fall history, depression, frailty, low activities of daily living, poor mobility and the need to use walking aids. Due to the limitations of the number and quality of included studies, the above conclusions still need to be verified by more high-quality studies.

Aged; Fear of falling; Risk factors; Meta-analysis