Balance measures for fall risk screening in community-dwelling older adults with COPD: A longitudinal analysis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increases fall risk, but consensus is lacking on suitable balance measures for fall risk screening in this group. We aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of balance measures for fall risk screening in community-dwelling older adults with COPD. METHODS: In a secondary analysis of two studies, participants, aged ≥60 years with COPD and 12-month fall history or balance issues were tracked for 12-month prospective falls. Baseline balance measures - Brief Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Brief BESTest), single leg stance (SLS), Timed Up and Go (TUG), and TUG Dual-Task (TUG-DT) test - were assessed using intra-class correlation (ICC2,1) for reliability, Pearson/Spearman correlation with balance-related factors for convergent validity, t-tests/Wilcoxon rank-sum tests with fall-related and disease-related factors for known-groups validity, and area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) for predictive validity. RESULTS: Among 174 participants (73 ± 8 years; 86 females) with COPD, all balance measures showed excellent inter-rater and test-retest reliability (ICC2,1 = 0.88-0.97) and moderate convergent validity (r = 0.34-0.77) with related measures. Brief BESTest and SLS test had acceptable known-groups validity (p < 0.05) for 12-month fall history, self-reported balance problems, and gait aid use. TUG test and TUG-DT test discriminated between groups based on COPD severity, supplemental oxygen use, and gait aid use. All measures displayed insufficient predictive validity (AUC<0.70) for 12-month prospective falls. CONCLUSION: Though all four balance measures demonstrated excellent reliability, they lack accuracy in prospectively predicting falls in community-dwelling older adults with COPD. These measures are best utilized within multi-factorial fall risk assessments for this population.

Determinants of physical activity in community-dwelling older adults: an umbrella review.

INTRODUCTION: Physical activity (PA) is critical for disease prevention and maintaining functional ability with aging. Despite this, as many as 50% of older adults in populations worldwide are considered insufficiently active. There is a recognized need to mobilize policies targeted toward modifiable determinants of healthy aging like PA. This umbrella review aimed to summarize the evidence for determinants of PA in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: A research librarian searched six databases. Systematic and scoping reviews were included if they investigated community-dwelling people with a mean age of 60 + years and examined a relationship between a determinant and any type of PA. Two independent reviewers screened and extracted data from all reviews. JBI methodology and Critical Appraisal Checklist for Systematic Reviews and Research Syntheses were followed and information on the quality of the evidence was extracted. RESULTS: From 17,277 records screened,11 reviews representing > 300 unique primary papers were ultimately included. Only 6% of studies included in all reviews had longitudinal designs. Included studies used a large variety of PA measures, with 76% using only self-report, 15% using only direct measures (e.g., accelerometry), 3% using both types, and 6% with no outcome measure reported. Only four reviews provided a definition of PA and there was substantial inconsistency in the way PA was categorised. Community level influences, which only included the physical environment, were the most commonly assessed (6/11) with more than 70% of the summarized relationships demonstrating null associations. Three out of four reviews reported a positive relationship between walkability and PA in general community-dwelling older adults. There was also evidence supporting relationships between presence of social support for PA, younger age, and men having higher PA from a single systematic review. None of the included reviews assessed the quality of evidence but over 60% performed a risk of bias assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Walkability, age, gender, and social support for PA were the most supported PA determinants identified. Further research should focus on interpersonal and intrapersonal influences and incorporate direct measures of PA with clear operational definitions. There is a need for longitudinal study designs to further understand determinants of PA behaviour trajectories.

Preconditioning program reduces the incidence of prolonged hospital stay after lung cancer surgery: Results from the Move For Surgery randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer resection is associated with high rates of prolonged hospital stay. It is presumed that preconditioning with aerobic exercise can shorten the postoperative duration of hospital stay, but this has not yet been demonstrated in trials after lung cancer surgery. The aim of this study was to perform a RCT to determine whether Move For Surgery (MFS), a home-based and wearable technology-enhanced preconditioning program before lung cancer surgery, is associated with a lower incidence of prolonged hospital stay when compared to usual preoperative care. METHODS: Patients undergoing lung resection for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer were enrolled before surgery into this blinded, single-site RCT, and randomized to either the MFS or control group in a 1 : 1 ratio. Patients in the MFS group were given a wearable activity tracker, and education about deep breathing exercises, nutrition, sleep hygiene, and smoking cessation. Participants were motivated/encouraged to reach incrementally increasing fitness goals remotely. Patients in the control group received usual preoperative care. The primary outcome was the difference in proportion of patients with hospital stay lasting more than 5 days between the MFS and control groups. RESULTS: Of 117 patients screened, 102 (87.2 per cent) were eligible, enrolled, and randomized (51 per trial arm). The majority (95 of 102, 93.1 per cent) completed the trial. Mean(s.d.) age was 67.2(8.8) years and there were 55 women (58 per cent). Type of surgery and rates of thoracotomy were not different between arms. The proportion of patients with duration of hospital stay over 5 days was 3 of 45 (7 per cent) in the MFS arm compared to 12 of 50 (24 per cent) in the control arm (P = 0.021). CONCLUSION: MFS, a home-based and wearable technology-enhanced preconditioning program before lung cancer surgery, decreased the proportion of patients with a prolonged hospital stay. Registration number: NCT03689634 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).

After lung cancer surgery, many patients are admitted to hospital for a prolonged amount of time. It is believed that exercises undertaken before surgery can shorten the stay in hospital, but this has not yet been studied. This study aimed to find out whether Move For Surgery (MFS), a home-based exercise (preconditioning) program using wearable technology before lung cancer surgery, can decrease the number of patients who are admitted to hospital for a prolonged amount of time. Patients with lung cancer were invited to enter this trial 3­4 weeks before surgery. They were randomly put into the MFS or control group. Patients in the MFS group were given a wearable activity tracker, and education about deep breathing exercises, nutrition, sleep hygiene, and quitting smoking. Participants were encouraged to reach increasing fitness goals each week. Patients in the control group underwent usual preoperative care. The difference between the MFS and control groups in the proportion of patients with duration of stay in hospital exceeding 5 days was studied. There were 102 participants in total, 51 in each group. The majority (95 of 102, 93.1 per cent) completed the trial. The average age of participants was 67 years, and 58 per cent were women. Type of surgery and number of open operations were no different between groups. The proportion of patients with duration of stay greater than 5 days was 3 of 45 (7 per cent) in the MFS group compared with 12 of 50 (24 per cent) in the control group. Therefore, MFS before lung cancer surgery was shown to decrease the number of patients admitted to hospital for a prolonged amount of time.

Loneliness and resilience are associated with nutrition risk after the first wave of COVID-19 in community-dwelling older Canadians.

Nutrition risk is linked to hospitalization, frailty, depression, and death. Loneliness during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have heightened nutrition risk. We sought to determine prevalence of high nutrition risk and whether loneliness, mental health, and assistance with meal preparation/delivery were associated with risk in community-dwelling older adults (65+ years) after the first wave of COVID-19 in association analyses and when adjusting for meaningful covariates. Data were collected from 12 May 2020 to 19 August 2020. Descriptive statistics, association analyses, and linear regression analyses were conducted. For our total sample of 272 participants (78 ± 7.3 years old, 70% female), the median Seniors in the Community: Risk evaluation for Eating and Nutrition (SCREEN-8) score (nutrition risk) was 35 [1st quartile, 3rd quartile: 29, 40], and 64% were at high risk (SCREEN-8 < 38). Fifteen percent felt lonely two or more days a week. Loneliness and meal assistance were associated with high nutrition risk in association analyses. In multivariable analyses adjusting for other lifestyle factors, loneliness was negatively associated with SCREEN-8 scores (-2.92, 95% confidence interval [-5.51, -0.34]), as was smoking (-3.63, [-7.07, -0.19]). Higher SCREEN-8 scores were associated with higher education (2.71, [0.76, 4.66]), living with others (3.17, [1.35, 4.99]), higher self-reported health (0.11, [0.05, 0.16]), and resilience (1.28, [0.04, 2.52]). Loneliness, but not mental health and meal assistance, was associated with nutrition risk in older adults after the first wave of COVID-19. Future research should consider longitudinal associations among loneliness, resilience, and nutrition.

Validity of balance and mobility screening tests for assessing fall risk in COPD.

People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have balance impairments and an increased risk of falls. The psychometric properties of short balance tests to inform fall risk assessment in COPD are unknown. Our objective was to determine the validity (concurrent, convergent, and known-groups) of short balance and mobility tests for fall risk screening. Participants with COPD aged ≥ 60 years attended a single assessment. Correlation coefficients described the relationships between the Brief Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Brief BESTest), Single-Leg Stance (SLS), Timed Up and Go (TUG), and Timed Up and Go Dual-Task (TUG-DT) tests, with the comprehensive Berg Balance Scale (BBS), chair-stand test, and measures of exercise tolerance, functional limitation, disability, and prognosis. Independent t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests were used to examine differences between groups with respect to fall risk. Receiver operating characteristic curves examined the ability of the screening tests to identify individuals with previous falls. A total of 86 patients with COPD completed the study (72.9 ± 6.8 years; forced expiratory volume in 1 second: 47.3 ± 20.3% predicted). The Brief BESTest identified individuals who reported a previous fall (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.715, p = 0.001), and the SLS showed borderline acceptable accuracy in identifying individuals with a fall history (AUC = 0.684, p = 0.004). The strongest correlations were found for the Brief BESTest and SLS with the BBS (r = 0.80 and r = 0.72, respectively) and between the TUG and TUG-DT with the chair-stands test (r = 0.73 and r = 0.70, respectively). The Brief BESTest and SLS show the most promise as balance screening tools for fall risk assessment in older adults with COPD. These tests should be further evaluated prospectively.