Development of the Falls Risk for Older People in the Community (FROP-Com) screening tool.
BACKGROUND
the aim of this study was to develop a brief screening tool for use in the emergency department (ED), to identify people who require further assessment and management.


METHODS
this prospective study included 344 community-dwelling older people presenting to an ED after a fall. After direct discharge participants had a home-based assessment performed that included the Falls Risk for Older People in the Community (FROP-Com), a comprehensive, yet simple, multifactorial falls risk assessment tool. They were then monitored for falls for 12 months. The items from the FROP-Com assessment tool predictive of falls in a multifactorial logistic regression were used to develop the FROP-Com screen.


RESULTS
the items significantly predictive of falls and combined to form the FROP-Com screen were: falls in the previous 12 months, observation of the person's balance and the need for assistance to perform domestic activities of daily living. At the cut-off with the highest Youden index sensitivity was 67.1% (95% CI 59.9-74.3) and specificity was 66.7% (95% CI 59.8-73.6).


CONCLUSIONS
the FROP-Com screen has a relatively good capacity to predict falls. It can be used in time-limited situations to classify those at high risk of falls who require more detailed assessment and management.
Russell
Melissa A
MA
National Ageing Research Institute, Preventive and Public Health Division, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria 3095, Australia. m.russell@nari.unimelb.edu.au
Hill
Keith D
KD
Day
Lesley M
LM
Blackberry
Irene
I
Gurrin
Lyle C
LC
Dharmage
Shyamali C
SC
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity