Balance Test For 10 Sec is a Powerful Revealer For Older Health

In standard medical terms, the balance has not any link with adult health or balance has not taken part in adult health tests. But now after a study on balance, it is found a very keep part of adult health. The inability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds in mid to later life is linked to a near doubling in the risk of death from any cause within the next 10 years, according to research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

For people over 50 years old, not being able to stand on one foot for 10 seconds was associated with a higher risk of death from all causes within the next decade, according to the study, The findings suggest it may be useful to add the 10-second balance test as part of routine physical exams for that age group. “We regularly need to stay in a one-legged posture, to move out of a car, to climb, or to descend a step or stairs and so on,” lead study author Claudio Gil Soares Araújo, MD, PhD, a sports and exercise physician at the Exercise Medicine Clinic Clinimex, in Rio de Janeiro, told Health. “So not having this ability or being afraid of doing so, is likely related to loss of autonomy and, in consequence, less exercise and the snowball starts.”

CLIMAX Exercise cohort study

They drew on participants in the CLINIMEX Exercise cohort study — this was set up in 1994 to assess associations between various measures of physical fitness, exercise-related variables and conventional cardiovascular risk factors, with ill health and death. The current analysis included 1702 participants aged 51–75 (average of 61) at their first check-up, between February 2009 and December 2020. Around two-thirds (68%) were men. Weight and several measures of skinfold thickness plus waist size were taken. Details of medical history were also provided. Only those with stable gait were included. As part of the check-up, participants were asked to stand on one leg for 10 seconds without any additional support. To improve standardisation of the test, participants were asked to place the front of the free foot on the back of the opposite lower leg, while keeping their arms by their sides and their gaze fixed straight ahead. Up to three attempts on either foot were permitted.

In all, around 1 in 5 (20.5%; 348) participants failed to pass the test. The inability to do so rose in tandem with age, more or less doubling at subsequent 5-year intervals from the age of 51–55 onwards. The proportions of those unable to stand on one leg for 10 seconds were: nearly 5% among 51- to 55-year-olds; 8% among 56- to 60-year-olds; just under 18% among 61- to 65-year-olds; and just under 37% among 66- to 70-year-olds. More than half (around 54%) of those aged 71–75 were unable to complete the test. In other words, people in this age group were more than 11 times as likely to fail the test as those just 20 years younger. During an average monitoring period of 7 years, 123 (7%) people died: cancer (32%); cardiovascular disease (30%); respiratory disease (9%); and COVID-19 complications (7%).

There were no clear temporal trends in the deaths, or differences in the causes, between those able to complete the test and those who weren’t able to do so. But the proportion of deaths among those who failed the test was significantly higher: 17.5% vs 4.5%, reflecting an absolute difference of just under 13%.

Conclusion  

In general, those who failed the test had poorer health: a higher proportion were obese and/or had heart disease, high blood pressure and unhealthy blood fat profiles. And type 2 diabetes was three times as common in this group: 38% vs around 13%. After accounting for age, sex and underlying conditions, an inability to stand unsupported on one leg for 10 seconds was associated with an 84% heightened risk of death from any cause within the next decade.

Nevertheless, the researchers conclude that the 10-second balance test “provides rapid and objective feedback for the patient and health professionals regarding static balance” and that the test “adds useful information regarding mortality risk in middle-aged and older men and women”.