Effectiveness of the "Timed Up and Go" (TUG) and the Chair test as screening tools for geriatric fall risk assessment in the ED.
Am J Emerg Med
; 37(3): 457-460, 2019 03.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29910184
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Timed Up and Go" (TUG) and the Chair test as screening tools in the Emergency Department (ED), stratified by sex.METHODS:
This prospective cohort study was conducted at a Level 1 Trauma center. After consent, subjects performed the TUG and the Chair test. Subjects were contacted for phone follow-up and asked to self-report interim falling.RESULTS:
Data from 192 subjects were analyzed. At baseline, 71.4% (nâ¯=â¯137) screened positive for increased falls risk based on the TUG evaluation, and 77.1% (nâ¯=â¯148) scored below average on the Chair test. There were no differences by patient sex. By the six-month evaluation 51 (26.6%) study participants reported at least one fall. Females reported a non-significant higher prevalence of falls compared to males (29.7% versus 22.2%, pâ¯=â¯0.24). TUG test had a sensitivity of 70.6% (95% CI 56.2%-82.5%), a specificity of 28.4% (95% CI 21.1%-36.6%), a positive predictive (PP) value 26.3% (95% CI 19.1%-34.5%) and a negative predictive (NP) value of 72.7% (95% CI 59.0%-83.9%). Similar results were observed with the Chair test. It had a sensitivity of 78.4% (95% CI 64.7%-88.7%), a specificity of 23.4% (95% CI 16.7%-31.3%), a PP value 27.0% (95% CI 20.1%-34.9%) and a NP value of 75.0% (95% CI 59.7%-86.8%). No significant differences were observed between sexes.CONCLUSIONS:
There were no sex specific significant differences in TUG or Chair test screening performance. Neither test performed well as a screening tool for future falls in the elderly in the ED setting.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Accidental Falls
/
Geriatric Assessment
/
Exercise Test
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Am J Emerg Med
Year:
2019
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: