Open AccessFall Risk Assessment Among Older Adults With Mild Alzheimer Disease
Author(s) -
John Ryan,
Constance McCloy,
Peter J. Rundquist,
Visalakshi Srinivasan,
Rosemary D. Laird
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of geriatric physical therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.185
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2152-0895
pISSN - 1539-8412
DOI - 10.1519/jpt.0b013e31820aa829
Subject(s) - falling (accident) , medicine , dementia , gait , fear of falling , population , poison control , physical therapy , injury prevention , physical medicine and rehabilitation , gerontology , disease , psychiatry , medical emergency , environmental health
Older adults with Alzheimer disease (AD) fall more than twice as often as those without dementia, yet few studies have assessed fall risk in this population. The purpose of the study was to determine whether a fall assessment, the Physical Performance Test 7-item (PPT 7-item), could accurately identify subjects with history of falls in a group of community-dwelling elders with mild AD. An additional purpose was to determine whether the PPT 7-item, a cognitive screen, and/or nonperformance data could predict falling in this population.