Accuracy of Berg balance scale to predict falls among community elderly dwellers

Abstract

Background & Aim: Berg balance scale (BBS) is one of the most applied tests to identify high-risk elderly people for fall. Fall is a common health problem among community senior citizens. A diag- nostic test to identify high-risk elderly people can prevent or alleviate falls. The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of BBS to predict falls among elderly community dwellers. Methods & Materials: This cross-sectional study was conducted among elderly community dwellers in Shahroud, Semnan Providence, Iran. In this study, 1312 elderly individuals were regis- tered for the study, 455 of them were randomly selected as qualified participants. This study is a validity investigation on BBS among elderly community dwellers. To validate the BBS, research- ers assessed validity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, positive likelihood ratio (LR+) and negative LR (LR−). Results: The findings of this study showed that 243 subjects were male, and 212 subjects were female. The mean age of subjects were 71.45 ± 9.25 years. This study showed sensitivity and specificity of 0.63 and 0.97, respectively. According to the findings of the study, LR+ and LR− were calculated as 9.57 and 0.39, respectively. Conclusion: The results of the study are in harmony with the hypothesis to design the test, i.e. BBS have the acceptable accuracy to identify high-risk community elderly people for falls. How- ever, other influential factors such as personal and environmental variables are necessary to con- sider for prediction of falls.

Keywords

• accuracy
• elderly
• community
• berg balance scale
• likelihood ratio