title: The functional assessment Berg Balance Scale is better capable of estimating fall risk in the elderly than the posturographic Balance Stability System.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to verify which instrument better identifies recurrent falls in the elderly. Ninety-eight old people, with an average age of 80 ± 4 years, were submitted to an assessment of balance and fall risk by means of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the posturographic Balance Stability System (BSS). The BBS was correlated with the BSS (r=-0.27; p=0.008), age (r=-0.38; p<0.001) and number of falls (r=-0.25; p=0.013) and the analysis of logistical regression showed that the elderly classified with fall risk on the BBS presented 2.5 (95%CI 1.08-5.78) more chance of identifying who had two falls or more over the last year. The BBS identified that the greater the age the worse the functional balance and demonstrated a greater capacity to identify falls risk suffered over the last year when compared with the BSS.
authors: Instituto de Assistência Médica ao Servidor Público Estadual, São Paulo, Brazil. vanessazen@hotmail.com
authors: Vanessa Vieira
authors: VV
authors: Pereira
authors: Roberto Alcantara
authors: RA
authors: Maia
authors: Sonia Maria Cesar de Azevedo
authors: SM
authors: Silva
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results