Sakthivadivel Varatharajan, Geetha Jeganathan, Gaur Archana, Kaliappan Ariyanachi
Department of General Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibinagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
Department of General Medicine, Karpaga Vinayaga Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Maduranthgam, Tamil Nadu, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Nov;11(11):7294-7298. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1294_22. Epub 2022 Dec 16.
Falls are common in the elderly and frequently have serious consequences, which lead to physical and psychological complications. Assessment of fall risk in the elderly is performed by using functional assessment tools that assess the muscle strength, balance, functional mobility, and gait. Timed Up and Go test (TUG) assesses functional mobility and the Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment test (POMA) assesses balance, postural control, and gait.
This study compares the TUG test and POMA test in fall prediction among elderly patients.
Patients with acute illness, acute painful lower limb conditions, dementia, severe depression, and those who are not willing were excluded from the study. Patient demographic data, co-morbidities, habits, and risk factors such as a previous history of falls, arthritis, depression, and vision impairment were noted. Gait and balance were assessed by the TUG and POMA tests. TUG and POMA were compared with the patients with a history of falls.
The mean age of participants was 70.79 ± 5.38 years. The females (57.6%) were more than the males. Hypertension was the commonest co-morbidity (54.4%). Out of 340 subjects, 105 subjects had a history of falls. The sensitivity of the TUG and POMA tests was 76.2 and 69.5%, respectively, and the specificity was 91.1 and 89.8%, respectively. The Kappa values were 0.680 and 0.606, respectively. POMA ( = -0.372) was negatively correlated to falls and TUG ( = 0.642) was positively correlated to falls.
TUG is a useful measure for determining the risk of falling in older persons.
跌倒在老年人中很常见，且常常会产生严重后果，进而导致身体和心理并发症。通过使用评估肌肉力量、平衡能力、功能活动能力和步态的功能评估工具来评估老年人的跌倒风险。定时起立行走测试（TUG）评估功能活动能力，而以性能为导向的移动性评估测试（POMA）评估平衡能力、姿势控制和步态。
本研究比较TUG测试和POMA测试在老年患者跌倒预测中的作用。
患有急性疾病、下肢急性疼痛、痴呆、严重抑郁以及不愿意参与的患者被排除在研究之外。记录患者的人口统计学数据、合并症、习惯以及跌倒史、关节炎、抑郁和视力障碍等危险因素。通过TUG和POMA测试评估步态和平衡能力。将TUG和POMA与有跌倒史的患者进行比较。
参与者的平均年龄为70.79±5.38岁。女性（57.6%）多于男性。高血压是最常见的合并症（54.4%）。在340名受试者中，105名受试者有跌倒史。TUG测试和POMA测试的敏感性分别为76.2%和69.5%，特异性分别为91.1%和89.8%。Kappa值分别为0.680和0.606。POMA（=-0.372）与跌倒呈负相关，TUG（=0.642）与跌倒呈正相关。
TUG是确定老年人跌倒风险的一项有用指标。
