Activities-specific balance confidence scale for predicting future falls in Indian older adults

• Published in: Clinical interventions in aging 2017-01, Vol.12, p.645-651
• Main Authors: Moiz, Jamal Ali, Bansal, Vishal, Noohu, Majumi M, Gaur, Shailendra Nath, Hussain, Mohammad Ejaz, Anwer, Shahnawaz, Alghadir, Ahmad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accidental falls; Accidental Falls - prevention & control; Activities of Daily Living; activity-specific balance confidence scale; Adaptation; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Diaries; Elderly; Evaluation; Falls; fear of fall; Female; Geriatric Assessment - methods; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; Humans; India; Male; Methods; Older people; Original Research; Population; Postural Balance; predicting falls; Prospective Studies; Psychological tests; Public health; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Stroke; Validity
• ISSN: 1178-1998; 1176-9092; 1178-1998
• DOI: 10.2147/CIA.S133523

Activities-specific balance confidence (ABC) scale is a subjective measure of confidence in performing various ambulatory activities without falling or experiencing a sense of unsteadiness. This study aimed to examine the ability of the Hindi version of the ABC scale (ABC-H scale) to discriminate between fallers and non-fallers and to examine its predictive validity for prospective falls. This was a prospective cohort study. A total of 125 community-dwelling older adults (88 were men) completed the ABC-H scale. The occurrence of falls over the follow-up period of 12 months was recorded. Discriminative validity was analyzed by comparing the total ABC-H scale scores between the faller and non-faller groups. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and a logistic regression analysis were used to examine the predictive accuracy of the ABC-H scale. The mean ABC-H scale score of the faller group was significantly lower than that of the non-faller group (52.6±8.1 vs 73.1±12.2;