Risk Assessment of Falls Among Older Adults Based on Probe Reaction Time During Water-Carrying Walking

Abstract

Fan Liu,1,* Huan Yu,1,* Qing Xu,2,* Jianwei Gong,1 Ming Huo,3,4 Fei Huang1,3 1School of Health and Life Sciences, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, People’s Republic of China; 2Yaitai Hospital, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Health and Life Sciences, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China; 4Beijing Chaoyang Sanhuan Cancer Hospital, Beijing, 100122, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ming Huo, School of Health and Life Sciences, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, 17 Shandong Road, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Fei Huang, School of Health and Life Sciences, Binzhou Medical University, 346 Guanhai Road, Laishan, Shandong Province, 264003, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Falls are a significant factor affecting the health of older adults and are closely related to cognitive function. Adopting an effective method to evaluate the risk of falls in older adults is essential for improving their healthcare. This study combined cognitive and motor functions to determine a reliable probe reaction time during water-carrying walking.Patients and Methods: We divided 100 community-dwelling older adults (aged 65 years and over) into two groups according to their fall history: the fall group and no-fall group. All subjects were tested on fall tasks using the timed up-and-go (TUG) test, 10-m walk timing test, trail marking test part-A (TMT-A), and water-carrying walking probe reaction time (P-RT).Results: The fall group showed slower walking speeds and longer TUG, TMT-A, and P-RT times than the no-fall group. In the logistic regression analysis with falls as the dependent variable, water-carrying walking P-RT was identified as a useful factor, and the cut-off value of the water-carrying walking P-RT was 454 ms, which was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic curve.Conclusion: The P-RT of the water-carrying walking test was found to be credible and useful for evaluating the fall risk in older adults. Therefore, it is recommended that the P-RT-based dual-task be used as a predictive indicator of future falls in the older population.Keywords: falls, probe reaction time, older adults, dual task

Keywords

• falls
• probe reaction time
• older adults
• dual task