Centre for Policy on Ageing



"Stops walking to talk" — a simple measure of predicting falls in the frail elderly
Author(s)	Jennifer C Nitz, Karen J Thompson
Journal title	Australasian Journal on Ageing, vol 22.2, June 2003
Pages	pp 97-99
Keywords	Cognitive processes ; Falls ; Mobility ; Correlation ; Australia.
Annotation	12 frail residents of care facilities were assessed for falls likelihood with the Timed Up-and-Go (TUG) and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) tests, and then observed in walking to determine whether they needed to stop walking to talk. These results were compared with the number of falls subjects had experienced in the previous 6 months. Eight were deemed at risk of falling by the TUG, and seven by the BBS. Four of these had fallen in the previous 6 months. Three subjects needed to stop walking to talk on at least one occasion, and were deemed at risk of falling by the TUG and BBS. One of these had fallen in the previous 6 months. A future study with a larger sample size and incorporating memory recall in the conversation should be used to confirm these results. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-030822212 A
Classmark	DA: OLF: C4: 49: 7YA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.