Association between Domains of the Clinical-Functional Vulnerability Index and Falls History in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2022-06, Vol.19 (13), p.7949
• Main Authors: Moreira, Natália B, Bento, Paulo C B, Vieira, Edgar Ramos, da Silva, José L P, Rodacki, André L F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Aged; Body mass index; Cognition & reasoning; Cross-Sectional Studies; Domains; Education; Ethnicity; Falls; Females; Frailty; Gender; Geriatric Assessment; Humans; Logistic Models; Mobility; Older people; Polypharmacy; Regression analysis; Risk assessment; ROC Curve; Sociodemographics
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19137949

Objectives: The study aimed to determine which domains, sets, and isolated or combined questions of the Clinical-Functional Vulnerability Index (CFVI-20) are associated with falls history in older adults. Methods: Instruments used were the CFVI-20 assessment and reported falls during the last year. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves identified the performance of the CFVI-20 domains and questions in identifying older adults with and without falls history, while logistic regression identified relevant questions to identify fall history. Results: This study included 1725 individuals (71.9 ± 7.3 years). The area under the curve (AUC) between the CFVI-20 and fall history was 0.69. The mobility domain presented the largest AUC (0.71; p < 0.01), and most isolated domains showed low AUCs (0.51 to 0.58). Isolated questions were limited to identifying fallers. The regression analysis identified 7 questions of the CFVI-20 with falls. Conclusions: The CFVI-20 general score identified older adults with a fall history. When considered in isolation, most domains were limited to identifying falls, except for the mobility domain. Combining the CFVI-20 questions enabled identification of fallers.