Questionnaire for Falls in Elderly

Abstract

Falls are a major public health problem in elderly population, and their consequences are a major public health problem as falls have been identified as the second leading cause of unintentional injury morbidity, accounting for 11% of the unintentional injury mortality rate globally.^{1, 2} Every year accidental falls occur in nearly one third of those aged more than 60 years, with 10% of these falls resulting in serious injury.³ Falls among the elderly can lead to disability, hospitalization, and premature death. Evaluation of the fall profile, identification of risk factors, and their impact on function are an essential part of comprehensive assessment by physiotherapist for  fall prevention.⁴ Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is an iterative collaborative multidimensional framework and process of assessment used to assess people living with frailty.^5,6 There are five domains at the centre of the CGA that form the framework for the assessment.⁷ These domains are: Physical Health and Nutritional Status, Mental and Emotional Health, Functional Status, Social and Environmental factors.

There are several tools available for Geriatric assessment. The commonly utilized tool such as the Barthel Index includes 10-item ordinal scale that assesses domain of personal care and inability⁸; however, it does not evaluate the social, psychological, and environmental factors associated with falls. The Fear of Fall Avoidance questionnaire is used to assess subject’s fear of doing work. ⁹ The Geriatric Depression Scale is used to assess the subject’s psychological status.¹⁰ Thus, each of them needs to be supplemented with other questionnaire for comprehensive geriatric assessment.