Risk assessment tools.

Timed up and go test and risk of falls in older adults: a systematic review. Beauchet O, Fantino B, Allali G, Muir SW, Montero-Odasso M, Annweiler C. J. Nutr. Health Aging 2011; 15(10): 933-938. Of the 92 selected studies, 11 met the selection criteria and were included in the final analysis. Fall rate ranged from 7.5 to 60.0% in the selected studies. The cut-off time separating non-fallers and fallers varied from 10 to 32.6 seconds. All retrospective studies showed a significant positive association between the time taken to perform the TUG and a history of falls with the highest odds ratio calculated at 42.3 [5.1 346.9]. In contrast, only one prospective study found a significant association with the occurrence of future falls. This association with incident falls was lower than in retrospective studies. Conclusions: Although retrospective studies found that the TUG time performance is associated with a past history of falls, its predictive ability for future falls remains limited. In addition, standardization of testing conditions combined with a control of the significant potential confounders (age, female gender and comorbidities) would provide better information about the TUG predictive value for future falls in older adults.