Background. The identification of specific risk factors for falls in community-dwelling elderly persons is required to detect early changes and permit a preventative approach to management. This study determines the ability of various laboratory measures and clinical tests of postural stability to prospectively predict fallers in community-dwelling elderly women.

Age, visual condition, and support surface were significant variables influencing postural stability in women. Reliance on vision for postural stability was evident for women from the 40s when single-limb stance was tested, from the 50s when bilateral stance on foam was tested, and from the 60s when a firm surface was used. The cause(s) of this decline in stability requires further investigation, and screening for postural instability between the ages of 40 and 60 is advocated.

The ability to recover balance using a feet-in-place response was more attentionally demanding in balance-impaired than in healthy elderly persons. The recovery of balance was also slower and less efficient in balance-impaired elderly persons when simultaneously performing a cognitive task, whereas the ability of healthy elderly individuals to recover was not influenced by concurrent task demands. This suggests that dual-task performance may contribute to postural instability and falls in balance-impaired elderly individuals.

No abstract