مقايسه سه آزمون عملكردي تعادل در شناسايي سالمندان با و بدون سابقه زمين خوردن

A Comparison of Three Functional Tests of Balance in Identifying Fallers from Non-Fallers in Elderly People

Introduction: In order to help establish appropriate treatment goals, increase awareness of fall risk, and assign appropriate assistive device, balance assessment is necessary for most of the elderly in health setting. Falls have significant relationship with the health of elderly people; and its early identification will lead to reducing future fall risk. Therefore, the present study was done with the aim of comparing three functional tests in identifying elderly non-fallers and fallers. Methods: In this causal-comparative study, 52 elderly men and women were selected from Subjects three parks in Tehran. Having Completed a consciousness evaluation questionnaire through convenience sampling and based on participants ʹ self-reports, the subjects were divided into an elderly group (27 people) with a history> of one or more falls in the previous one year and an elderly group (25 people) with no history of falls. The data were collected through Timed up & Go test, Functional Reach test and Berg Balance Scale and they were analyzed via MANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient tests(P<0.05). Results: The results showed significant difference between elderly fallers and non fallers in fall risk dependent variable (P=0.0005) so that, in all tests, the elderly with no falling history had a better performance. There was also a significant correlation between the three tests. Conclusion: In general, it can be said that the Mʹo groups showed significant differences in all three tests and these instruments can be used to identify the elderly with balance impairment.