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. 2023 Apr-Jun;46(2):103-109.
doi: 10.1519/JPT.0000000000000362. Epub 2022 Aug 10.

Can the 1-Leg Standing Test Be Replaced by Self-reported Balance in the First-Time Injurious Fall Screening Tool?

Nathalie Frisendahl  1   2 , Stina Ek  3 , Erik Rosendahl  4 , Erika Franzén  2   5   6 , Anne-Marie Boström  6   7   8 , Anna-Karin Welmer  1   2   9   10
Affiliations

Can the 1-Leg Standing Test Be Replaced by Self-reported Balance in the First-Time Injurious Fall Screening Tool?

Nathalie Frisendahl et al. J Geriatr Phys Ther. 2023 Apr-Jun.

Abstract

Background and purpose: The First-time Injurious Fall (FIF) screening tool was created to identify fall risk in community-living older men and women, who may be targets for primary preventive interventions. The FIF tool consists of 3 self-reported questions and 1 physical test (1-leg standing balance). The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive ability of the FIF tool and a modified FIF tool (in which 1-leg standing is replaced by self-reported balance) for first-time injurious falls.

Methods: A cohort of 1194 community-living people 60 years and older from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K), Sweden, was followed longitudinally for 5 years. Data on injurious falls were collected from registered data and were defined as receipt of care after a fall. The predictive ability of the FIF tool and the m-FIF tool was explored using Harrell's C statistic, stratified by sex.

Results and discussion: The injurious fall rate per 1000 person-years was 54.9 (95% CI: 47.22-63.78) for women and 36.3 (95% CI: 28.84-45.78) for men. The predictive ability for women and men according to Harrell's C statistic was 0.70 and 0.71 for the FIF tool and the m-FIF tool. The predictive ability was 0.70 and 0.69 for 1-leg standing, and 0.65 and 0.60 for self-reported balance problems.

Conclusions: The m-FIF tool presented similar predictive ability as the FIF tool regarding first-time injurious falls. This finding could extend the usefulness of the tool to other settings, such as to electronic health (eHealth). A quickly and easily administered screening tool can help physical therapists to identify people with a high risk of falling who may need to undergo a more comprehensive fall risk assessment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
First-time Injurious Fall screening tool. This figure is available in color online (www.jgeript.org).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Population flowchart for baseline assessment.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Hazard ratios and 95% CIs for first-time injurious fall in women and men up to 5 years after baseline in association with to the First-time Injurious Fall (FIF) tool, modified FIF (m-FIF) tool, 1-leg standing (OLS), and self-reported balance problems (SRBP). This figure is available in color online (www.jgeript.org).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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