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Fall Risk Among Older Adult High-Risk Populations: a Review of Current Screening and Assessment Tools

  • Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation (O Addison, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Falls are a leading cause of injury and accidental death among older adults. This is especially true for high-risk populations such as those who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, cerebrovascular accidents, Alzheimer’s disease, and related dementias. We outline general concerns related to falls for those who belong to these populations. This is followed with a description of general fall risk screening instruments and an introduction to fall risk tests and measures. We provide a brief overview of their applicability to high-risk populations. We conclude with guidance on how practitioners can use existing tools to conduct appropriate fall risk prevention screening and assessment activities that lead to the appropriate selection of evidence-based fall prevention programs for older adult high-fall-risk populations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities, University of Montana, 52 Corbin Hall, Missoula, MT, USA

    Mindy Renfro & Martin Blair

  2. Department of Physical Therapy and Health Care Sciences, The George Washington University, 2000 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC, 20037, USA

    Joyce Maring

  3. Health Programs, Special Olympics International, 3480 Salish Trail, Stevensville, MT, USA

    Donna Bainbridge

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  1. Mindy Renfro
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  2. Joyce Maring
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  3. Donna Bainbridge
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  4. Martin Blair
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Correspondence to Mindy Renfro.

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Mindy Renfro, Joyce Maring, Donna Bainbridge, and Martin Blair declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation

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Renfro, M., Maring, J., Bainbridge, D. et al. Fall Risk Among Older Adult High-Risk Populations: a Review of Current Screening and Assessment Tools. Curr Geri Rep 5, 160–171 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13670-016-0181-x

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