Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2015 May-Jun;19(3):218-26.
doi: 10.1590/bjpt-rbf.2014.0095. Epub 2015 Jun 12.

Prospective monitoring and self-report of previous falls among older women at high risk of falls and fractures: a study of comparison and agreement

Patrícia A Garcia  1 , João M D Dias  2 , Silvia L A Silva  3 , Rosângela C Dias  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Prospective monitoring and self-report of previous falls among older women at high risk of falls and fractures: a study of comparison and agreement

Patrícia A Garcia et al. Braz J Phys Ther. 2015 May-Jun.

Abstract

Background: The identification of the occurrence of falls is an important step for screening and for rehabilitation processes for the elderly. The methods of monitoring these events are susceptible to recording biases, and the choice of the most accurate method remains challenging.

Objectives: (i) To investigate the agreement between retrospective self-reporting and prospective monitoring of methods of recording falls, and (ii) to compare the retrospective self-reporting of falls and the prospective monitoring of falls and recurrent falls over a 12-month period among older women at high risk of falls and fractures.

Method: A total of 118 community-dwelling older women with low bone density were recruited. The incidence of falls was monitored prospectively in 116 older women (2 losses) via monthly phone calls over the course of a year. At the end of this monitoring period, the older women were asked about their recall of falls in the same 12-month period. The agreement between the two methods was analyzed, and the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported previous falls in relation to the prospective monitoring were calculated.

Results: There was moderate agreement between the prospective monitoring and the retrospective self-reporting of falls in classifying fallers (Kappa = 0.595) and recurrent fallers (Kappa = 0.589). The limits of agreement were 0.35 ± 1.66 falls. The self-reporting of prior falls had a 67.2% sensitivity and a 94.2% specificity in classifying fallers among older women and a 50% sensitivity and a 98.9% specificity in classifying recurrent fallers.

Conclusion: Self-reporting of falls over a 12-month period underestimated 32.8% of falls and 50% of recurrent falls. The findings recommend caution if one is considering replacing monthly monitoring with annual retrospective questioning.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Bland-Altman diagram: comparison of prospective monthly monitoring over 12 months and annual retrospective self-reporting (previous 12 months) methods. UL = upper limit; LL = Lower Limit; Mean difference = 0.35. SD = 0.83. Limit of agreement = 0.35±1.66.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ganz DA, Bao Y, Shekelle PG, Rubenstein LZ. Will my patient fall? JAMA. 2007;297(1):77–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.297.1.77 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cruz DT, Ribeiro LC, Vieira MT, Teixeira MT, Bastos RR, Leite IC. Prevalência de quedas e fatores associados em idosos. Rev Saude Publica. 2012;46(1):138–146. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-89102011005000087 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Silva RB, Costa-Paiva L, Oshima MM, Morais SS, Pinto-Neto AM. Frequência de quedas e associação com parâmetros estabilométricos de equilíbrio em mulheres na pós-menopausa com e sem osteoporose. Rev Bras Ginecol Obstet. 2009;31(10):496–502. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-72032009001000005 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Swanenburg J, Bruin ED, Uebelhart D, Mulder T. Falls prediction in elderly people: a 1-year prospective study. Gait Posture. 2010;31(3):317–321. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2009.11.013 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sai AJ, Gallagher JC, Smith LM, Logsdon S. Fall predictors in the community dwelling elderly: a cross sectional and prospective cohort study. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact. 2010;10(2):142–150. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources