Table 1.
Baseline characteristics for participants with and without OH, presented as mean (standard deviation (SD)) or median (interquartile range (IQR)) for continuous variables and number (percentage) for categorical variables
| Characteristic | With OH (n = 10) | Without OH (n = 11) |
|---|---|---|
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 77 (3.9) | 78 (6.7) |
| Sex, female | 2 (20) | 5 (45) |
| BMI (kg/m2), mean (SD) | 24 (3.1) | 25 (3.0) |
| Smoking | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Excessive alcohol usea | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| History of CVDb | 4 (40) | 4 (36) |
| Diabetes mellitus | 1 (10) | 2 (18) |
| OH symptoms during measurements | 5 (50) | 0 (0) |
| Any OH symptoms in daily lifec | 10 (100) | 3 (27) |
| Dizziness, light-headedness | 10 (100); 4.7 (1.6) | 3 (27); 2.7 (1.2) |
| Blurred vision | 5 (50); 6.2 (3.1) | 0 (0) |
| Muscle weakness | 3 (33); 4.3 (1.5) | 0 (0) |
| Fatigue | 2 (20); 7 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Concentration problems | 1 (10); 5 (0) | 1 (9); 2 (0) |
| Head/neck ache | 2 (20); 3.5 (2.1) | 0 (0) |
| Severe OH symptoms in daily lifed | 7 (70) | 0 (0) |
| Falls in last year | 7 (70) | 6 (55) |
| Number of falls, median (IQR) | 1 (7) | 1 (1) |
| MoCA, mean (SD) | 25 (3.5) | 27 (1.4) |
| Medication use | 9 (90) | 10 (91) |
| Antihypertensive drug use | 6 (60) | 8 (73) |
| Statin use | 5 (50) | 8 (73) |
| Antidepressant use | 2 (20) | 1 (9) |
| Systolic BP (mmHg), mean (SD) | 145 (20) | 151 (11) |
| Diastolic BP (mmHg), mean (SD) | 81 (7.5) | 82 (8) |
| Maximum grip strength (kPa), mean (SD) | 67 (20) | 55 (22) |
| Grip work (kPa s), mean (SD) | 2124 (1740) | 2612 (2754) |
| Chair-stand test (s), mean (SD) | 11.2 (3.8) | 10.5 (2.6) |
| Technology use score, mean (SD)e,f | 119 (15) | 143 (8.8) |
aExcessive alcohol use: more than 14 units per week for females and more than 21 units per week for males. bIn the last 12 months as reported by the TOPICS-SF questionnaire. cReported as number (percentage) and mean (SD) where mean (SD) represents the mean score on a severity scale from 1 (very mild symptoms) to 10 (very severe symptoms). dDefined as orthostatic hypotension (OH) symptoms limiting standing or walking for a short (< 1 min) or longer (> 1 min) period of time. eScore based on technology experience profile (TEP) [30]. Older adults have been divided into groups based on their TEP score before as novice (scoring 36–54), beginner (72–90), competent (108–126), and proficient (144–162) [37]. The lowest TEP in our sample was 102, scoring between beginner and competent. fMissing values (4 items from 3 participants) were imputed based on answers to other questions (e.g. when someone reported to use productivity software, computer use was also assumed). MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment; CVD, cardiovascular disease; BMI, body mass index