Mechanistic Pathways Linking Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, and Osteoarthritis to Falls in Older Adults: A Scoping Review

: Falls in older adults are a major public health and rehabilitation concern and may reflect interacting chronic disease-related mechanisms rather than diagnostic labels alone. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension (HTN), and osteoarthritis (OA) are common in later life and may influence fall vulnerability through sensory, vascular, musculoskeletal, cognitive, medication-related, and functional pathways....

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No actionable change specific to audiology practice; however, audiologists conducting vestibular assessments in older adults should be aware that diabetes, hypertension, and osteoarthritis each carry independent biological pathways that elevate fall risk, reinforcing multidisciplinary fall-prevention referral.

Understanding the overlapping mechanistic pathways to falls in older adults can help audiologists contextualize vestibular findings and strengthen the case for integrated fall-prevention programs.

1. 01Scoping review maps biological pathways linking type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and osteoarthritis to fall risk in older adults.
2. 02Diabetes-related nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy) and blood pressure instability are highlighted as key contributors.
3. 03Osteoarthritis impairs proprioception (the body's sense of position), compounding balance deficits.
4. 04Multi-disease interactions may compound fall risk beyond individual conditions.
5. 05Published in Healthcare (Basel); scoping reviews do not perform statistical synthesis.

PMID

42588238

DOI

10.3390/healthcare14152271.

Journal

Healthcare (Basel)

Publication type

review

Evidence level

2a

Population

Older adults with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and/or osteoarthritis

Intervention

Scoping review of mechanistic pathways linking chronic conditions to falls