Objectives This study aimed to analyze the association between social isolation (SI) and falls in Koreans. Methods The cross‐sectional study of the 2019 Korea Community Health Survey (KCHS) was conducted on 228,143 individuals aged 19 years or older. SI was defined using five indicators as “the presence of a spouse,” “social network,” “single‐person household,” “participation in social activities,” and “job status,” and SI group were defined as SI score ≥ 3. Multiple logistic regression after adjusting factors (socioeconomic status, health behavior and psychological factors) were used for association SI and falls. Results Fall injury were significantly higher in the SI group (15.8%) than that in the non‐SI group (10.8%) ( p < 0.001), and subcomponent scores for nonspouse, single‐person household, nonsocial activity, nonsocial network, and no job were significantly higher in the falls group ( p < 0.001). The multivariate odds ratio (OR) after adjusting multiple confounding variables showed SI (SI score ≥ 3) was significantly associated with an increased risk of falls (OR: 1.23, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.19–1.27). The presence of falls according to the SI subcomponents was more likely to be associated with nonspouse (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.36–1.44), single‐person households (OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.13–1.21), non‐social network (OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.00–1.19) and nonjob (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.11–1.18), respectively. Conclusion SI was associated with falls.
Kim et al. (Thu,) studied this question.