Correlation between the fear of falling and fall risk assessment tools in the community-dwelling frail elderly in Korea

Background/Objectives: This study analyzed the correlations between the FES and fall risk assessment tools in the frail elderly. Methods: This study was conducted with 44 female elderly residing in the nursing facility in Y city, Korea. Subjects conducted fall risk assessment tools such as 10 meter walk test (10MWT), functional reach test (FRT), short form berg balance scale (SFBBS) and timed up & go test (TUG). Tinetti Falls Efficacy Scale (FES) was used to measure fear of falling. Correlations between the FES and fall risk assessment tools and among the tools were accessed through Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: FES had positive linear correlation with TUG (p <0.05) and negative linear correlation with 10MWT and SFBBS (p <0.05). There were linear correlations among fall risk assessment tools (FRT, TUG, 10MWT, and SFBBS) (p <0.05). Conclusions: Activities with higher risk of falling are greatly affected by fear of falling because of increased posture instability during movement. 2210-8335/Copyright (C) 2017, Asia Pacific League of Clinical Gerontology & Geriatrics. Published by Full Universe Integrated Marketing Limited.