The global prevalence of and risk factors for fear of falling among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

As a common psychological problem among older adults, fear of falling was found to have a wide range prevalence in different studies. However, the global prevalence of it was unknown and a lack of the large sample confirmed its risk factors. To report the global prevalence of fear of falling and to explore its risk factors among older adults for further developing precise interventions to systematically manage FOF. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted by PRISMA guidelines. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and the manual search in August 20, 2022, updated to September 2, 2023. Observational studies published in English were included and two researchers independently screened and extracted the data. Fixed or random effects mode was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of and risk factors for fear of falling. Heterogeneity resources were analyzed by subgroup and sensitivity analysis. Publication bias was assessed through funnel plots, Egger’s test and Begg’s test. A total of the 153 studies with 200,033 participants from 38 countries worldwide were identified. The global prevalence of fear of falling was 49.60