Screening the Fall of the Community-Dwelling Elderly by Good Walker's Index

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  • KAMIOKA Hiroharu
    Laboratory of Physical Education and Medicine
  • MUTOH Yoshiteru
    Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo
  • OHTA Miho
    Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo
  • OKADA Shinpei
    Laboratory of Physical Education and Medicine

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Other Title
  • 健脚度を用いた在宅高齢者の転倒のスクリーニング
  • ケンキャクド オ モチイタ ザイタク コウレイシャ ノ テントウ ノ スクリーニング

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The objective of this study is to clarify the validity of the Good Walker's Index (Kenkyakudo) on screening the fall of the community-dwelling elderly.<br>The survey was carried out on 559 elderly between 60-79 years old, who underwent local checkups at village A (Shimane 1995), village B (Nagano 1997), city C (Hokkaido 1998). The Good Walker's Index was measured along with an interview on their fall experience in the past year. Based on this data, people who had less than one fall experience was classified as control group and those with more than two as the fall group. There were 188 male and 311 female in the control group and 23 and 37 in the fall group respectively.<br>Even after the elderly were adjusted for age, significant differences between the two groups were found only in the men's 10m walking time (p<0.05), maximum length of a step (p<0.01), 40cm-staircase stepping (p<0.05), and the women's 40cm-staircase stepping (p<0.05). By using the quartile as a reference, the screening level was set for each of the items with significant differences. For the women's 40cm-staircase stepping, the original 3 grades evaluation was used. The sensitivity was between 65.2-91.3% and the specificity 27.7-62.4% for the men, and 56.8% and 62.6% for the women respectively. The combined sensitivity and specificity (10m walking time, maximum length of a step, and 40cm-staircase stepping) for the men was 91.3% and 27.7%. Although the case of falling is quite complex, the Good Walker's Index is effective in fall prediction. Improving the effectiveness of the screening test by adding dynamic balance measurements to the mobility test is an issue for the future.

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