1. Balance provocation tests identify near falls in healthy community adults aged 40-75 years; an observational study.
- Author
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Baker, Nicky, Grimmer, Karen, and Gordon, Sue
- Subjects
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KRUSKAL-Wallis Test , *STATISTICS , *RELATIVE medical risk , *PREDICTIVE tests , *SCIENTIFIC observation , *ACTIVE aging , *CONFIDENCE intervals , *POSTURAL balance , *CROSS-sectional method , *AGE distribution , *EFFECT sizes (Statistics) , *RISK assessment , *ONE-leg resting position , *SEX distribution , *PEARSON correlation (Statistics) , *COMPARATIVE studies , *ACCIDENTAL falls , *INDEPENDENT living , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *RESEARCH funding , *CHI-squared test , *FACTOR analysis , *RECEIVER operating characteristic curves , *ODDS ratio , *SENSITIVITY & specificity (Statistics) , *DATA analysis , *DATA analysis software , *MIDDLE age , *ADULTS - Abstract
Near falls, such as stumbles or slips without falling to the ground, are more common than falls and often lead to a fall. The objective of this study was to investigate which balance tests differentiate near fallers from fallers and non-fallers. This cross-sectional, observational study assessed balance in healthy community dwelling adults aged 40–75 years. Participants reported falls and near falls in the previous 6 months. Balance testing was completed in the local community for static (i.e. feet together and single-leg stance) and dynamic balance (i.e. tandem walk, Functional Movement Screen hurdle step and lunge). Between-group comparative analysis of pass-fail for each balance test was undertaken. Of 627 participants, there were 99 fallers (15.8%), 121 near fallers (19.3%) and 407 non-fallers (64.9%). Near fallers were twice as likely as non-fallers to fail single-leg stance eyes (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.5–4.9), five tandem steps (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.5–5.7), hurdle step (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.4–5.8), and lunge (OR 2.5. 95% CI 1.5–4.1). The predictive capacity differentiates near fallers with a sensitivity of 73.3%. A new battery of tests assessing static and dynamic balance identifies near fallers in seemingly healthy, community dwelling middle- and young-older-aged adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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