Development of the Falls Risk for Older People in the Community (FROP-Com) screening tool

• Published in: Age and ageing Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 40 - 46
• Main Authors: Russell, Melissa A., Hill, Keith D., Day, Lesley M., Blackberry, Irene, Gurrin, Lyle C., Dharmage, Shyamali C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.01.2009; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: accidental falls; Accidental Falls - prevention & control; Activities of daily living; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Community; elderly; Elderly people; Emergency Medical Services - methods; Emergency services; Evaluation; Falls; geriatric assessment; Geriatric Assessment - methods; Geriatrics; High risk; Home based; Humans; Logistic Models; Mass Screening - methods; Middle Aged; Older people; Predictive Value of Tests; Prospective Studies; Reproducibility of Results; Risk assessment; Risk Assessment - methods; Risk Factors; Screening; Sensitivity and Specificity; Australia; accidental falls; aged; geriatric assessment; risk factors; elderly
• ISSN: 0002-0729; 1468-2834; 1468-2834
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afn196

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). Conclusion: 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.