Citation

Fiedorová I, Mrázková E, Zádrapová M, Tomášková H. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022; 19(15): e9181.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph19159181

PMID

35954533

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although fall prevention in patients after stroke is crucial, the clinical validity of fall risk assessment tools is underresearched in this population. The study aim was to determine the cut-off scores and clinical validity of the Sensory Organization Test (SOT), the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and the Fall Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) in patients after stroke.

METHODS: In this prospective cross-sectional study, we analyzed data for patients admitted to a rehabilitation unit after stroke from 2018 through 2021. Participants underwent SOT, BBS, and FES-I pre-discharge, and the fall incidence was recorded for 6 months. We used an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) to calculate predictive values.

RESULTS: Of 84 included patients (median age 68.5 (interquartile range 67-71) years), 32 (38.1%) suffered a fall. All three tests were significantly predictive of fall risk. Optimal cut-off scores were 60 points for SOT (AUC 0.686), 35 and 42 points for BBS (AUC 0.661 and 0.618, respectively), and 27 and 29 points for FES-I (AUC 0.685 and 0.677, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: Optimal cut-off scores for SOT, BBS, and FES-I were determined for patients at risk for falls after a stroke, which all three tools classified with a good discriminatory ability.

Language: en

Keywords

balance; fall risk assessment; stroke