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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Assessing recurrent fall risk of community-dwelling, frail older veterans using specific tests of mobility and the Physical Performance Test of function | | Author(s) | Jessie M VanSwearingen, Karen A Paschal, Paula Bonino |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological sciences and medical sciences, vol 53A, no 6, November 1998 |
| Pages | pp M457-M464 |
| Keywords | Falls ; Older men ; Living in the community ; Mobility ; Self care capacity ; Evaluation ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | This US study aimed to determine if older people at risk of recurrent falls are best identified by mobility or functional assessments. 84 frail male veterans, mean age 75.5 years and living in the community, participated. The history of recurrent falls was determined by self or proxy report in a clinical interview. Mobility assessments included the Modified Gait Abnormality Rating Scale (GARS-M), stride length, and walking speed. Functional performance was determined using the Physical Performance Test (PPT). The clinical usefulness of the measures was determined by the sensitivity and specificity of each measure using the history of recurrent falls as a standard. Stepwise logistic regression analysis of the data indicated that the GARS-M and the PPT were the most important predictors of recurrent fall risk. The sensitivity and specificity of the measures used were: GARS-M 62.3% and 87.1%; PPT 79.3% and 71.1%; walking speed 71.7% and 74.2%; and stride length 63.2% and 77.4%. Together the GARS-M and PPT demonstrated the highest sensitivity of 90.6% and the highest specificity of 87.1% based on a subject testing positive on at least one test. Both measures are clinically useful in screening for risk of recurrent falls. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990302005 A |
| Classmark | OLF: BC: K4: C4: CA: 4C: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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