Citation

Tsutsumimoto K, Doi T, Misu S, Ono R, Hirata S. Aging Clin. Exp. Res. 2013; 25(4): 427-432.

Affiliation

Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 7-10-2, Tomogaoka, Suma-ku, Kobe, 654-0142, Hyogo, Japan, k-tsutsu@ncgg.go.jp.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s40520-013-0061-6

PMID

23784726

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To prevent falls among older people, we developed a new fall-risk assessment, the "Ordered Multi-Stepping Over Hoop (OMO)" test. The aims of this study were preliminary: to investigate the association of the OMO with cognitive and physical function and to investigate whether the OMO could predict incidents of falling. METHODS: Fifty-nine community-dwelling older people (mean age = 88.0 ± 0.87, female = 49) were recruited. We assessed cognitive and physical function including the OMO test at baseline and monitored the falls of participants during a 12-month follow-up period from the baseline. We investigated whether the OMO was associated with cognitive function, physical function, and incidents of falling. To investigate whether the OMO could predict incidents of falling, a receiver operating characteristic analysis was conducted. RESULTS: The OMO time in fallers was significantly slower than for non-fallers. There were significant correlations between slower OMO times and lower physical functions and executive function. The area under the ROC curve in the OMO was 0.71 (p < 0.05). Times above 21.9 s for the OMO identified those more likely to fall. CONCLUSIONS: The OMO time was correlated with cognitive function, physical function, and incidents of falling. Our preliminary study indicates that the OMO may help to make a distinction between fallers and non-fallers among older people as effectively as other tests.

Language: en