title: Optimizing the tracking of falls in studies of older participants: comparison of quarterly telephone recall with monthly falls calendars in the MOBILIZE Boston Study.
abstract: Tracking falls among elders is challenging. In this reliability study, which took place between October 2007 and February 2008, the authors compared participants' daily recordings of falls on calendars with a telephone survey of recall of falls over the previous 3 months within the population-based MOBILIZE Boston Study cohort, a cohort of 765 elders. From the cohort, 218 participants were randomly selected. Falls were tracked prospectively on daily calendars (mailed back monthly). Telephone recalls of falls over the previous 3 months were conducted in January and February 2008. Agreement, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated to compare the occurrence of falls as determined by 3-month recall with falls recorded by daily calendar (gold standard) during the same 3-month period. Results showed good agreement between recall and calendars: 27 persons reported a fall by both methods. However, while the 3-month recall correctly classified persons who did not fall (164 persons by both methods), it missed 25% of participants who fell (of 36 participants with a calendar-reported fall, 9 did not report a fall by telephone recall). Kappa was 0.74 (95% confidence interval: 0.68, 0.80), sensitivity was 75%, and specificity was 96%. Retrospective 3-month recall of falls resulted in underreporting of falls by as much as 25% compared with daily calendars. Calendars should be considered the preferred method of ascertaining falls in longitudinal studies.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife, 1200 Centre Street, Boston, MA 02131-1097, USA. hannan@hrca.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Marian T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Hannan
authors.forename: Margaret M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Gagnon
authors.forename: Jasneet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aneja
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: L Adrienne
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Cupples
authors.forename: Lewis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Lipsitz
authors.forename: Elizabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Samelson
authors.forename: Suzanne G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Leveille
authors.forename: Douglas P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kiel
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001900:Boston; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D017010:Reminder Systems; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013689:Telephone; D013997:Time Factors