Dynamic balance assessment using an unstable board in community-dwelling elderly people

Akizuki, Kazunori; Echizenya, Yuki; Kaneno, Tatsuya; Yabuki, Jun; Ohashi, Yukari

doi:10.1589/jpts.30.1086

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Another recent publication describes the use of a new platform/unstable surface to assess the dynamic balancing capacity of people over 65 years of age living in the community. The average age of the participants is 70.5 + 3.5 years, and the average MMSE score is 28.6 points, taking into account that one of the exclusion criteria to participate in this study is an MMSE score <24 [33]. Other authors develop a new evaluation of the activities of daily living to determine the deterioration in daily functioning and ensure an early diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders in community-dwelling people over 65 years of age.…”

Section: Discussion/conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Alusti Test, a Functional Assessment Scale Applicable to the Geriatric Population

Aguirre

Yerobi

Yañez

et al. 2022

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord

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Introduction: Decreases in functional ability generate dependence, limiting people’s quality of life. Assessment tools are needed to evaluate functional abilities of the older adults that can objectively and accurately assess any type of user. Such proper or adapted tools are not always available. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the usefulness and universal application of the Alusti Test, a functional assessment scale, in the older population and to evaluate the sensitivity to change of the Alusti Test short version (Alusti-S) in a psychogeriatric hospitalized population. Methods: Longitudinal study was conducted in a psychogeriatric clinic in Navarra, Spain. The study sample comprised 539 persons of 65 years and older hospitalized at a psychogeriatric clinic (mean age 82.8 ± 7.3 years). The sensitivity to change was assessed upon admission and discharge through the application of three tests: Barthel Index, Complete Alusti Test, and Alusti-S. Results: We verified sensitivity to change, as illustrated by an improvement of 24.7%, 13.8%, and 16.0%, respectively. Due to the greater functional deterioration upon admission, the improvement margin in the three tests was higher in patients over 85 years of age and in women. Conclusion: We consider the Alusti Test an innovative functional assessment tool due to its simplicity, sensitivity, and suitability to universal application in psychogeriatric populations. Correlating recommended physical activity based on the functional ability of the person, based on the Alusti Test, is a pending task that could be of interest for the sake of efficient interventions.

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Section: Discussion/conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Alusti Test, a Functional Assessment Scale Applicable to the Geriatric Population

Aguirre

Yerobi

Yañez

et al. 2022

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord

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“…The test was performed as the first assessment in the morning of the larger project's testing day to ensure mental or physical fatigue would not affect the results. [27][28][29][30] and individual Mini-BESTest total scores from an additional 137 healthy participants in four articles [31][32][33][34] These data were combined to form healthy control reference data groups for our analyses (see below). The available group-level data in the remaining 11 articles [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] were used for additional visual comparison.…”

Section: Mini-bestest Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since we had no a priori criteria for how do deal with this situation, we included this participant in the analysis, but also repeated the analysis excluding the participant in order to examine if this individual score would have an effect on the overall results (this did not lead to any changes in the statistical significance outcomes of the tests, the direction of effects or the conclusions). Regarding the healthy control reference data, 327 healthy participants from eight articles [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] formed the control group for the Mini-BESTest total score and 190 healthy participants from four articles [27][28][29][30] formed the control group for the Mini-BESTest sub scores. Note that two of the contacted authors provided data for more participants than were reported in the identified study.…”

Section: Participant Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Balance in People with Bilateral Vestibulopathy using the Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest)

Zhu¹,

Stiphout²,

Karabulut³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background and aim: Bilateral Vestibulopathy (BVP) leads to unsteadiness when walking, which worsens in darkness or on uneven ground, as well as oscillopsia during head or body movement. A previous review concluded that clinical balance tests that challenge multiple aspects of balance should be investigated, since simple tests struggle to distinguish between BVP and healthy participants. Our aim was (1) to test if the more comprehensive Mini-BESTest is feasible in BVP, (2) to examine how participants perform in terms of their overall and subcomponent scores and (3) to compare these scores with healthy reference data from the literature.Methods: Fifty participants with BVP completed the Mini-BESTest as part of a larger study. The Mini-BESTest has 4 components: anticipatory, reactive postural control, sensory orientation and dynamic gait. It comprises 14 items with a maximum score of 28. Falls incidence in the previous 12 months was obtained by questionnaire. To compare the overall and sub-scores between our participants with BVP and those of healthy participants from the literature (n=327; obtained via PubMed searches and contacting authors), Mann-Whitney U tests were used. Sub scores within the BVP group were also compared. Spearman correlations were used to investigate the relationships between Mini-BESTest score and age.Results: No floor or ceiling effects were observed. Participants with BVP had significantly lower Mini-BESTest total scores than the healthy group (BVP mean=20.8, Healthy mean=24.2, U(NBVP=49, NHealthy=327)=4564.00, p<0.001, d=0.52). Three sub scores of the Mini-BESTest (anticipatory, reactive postural control, sensory orientation) were significantly lower in BVP (U(NBVP=50, NHealthy=190)=2364.50, p<0.001, d=0.75; U(NBVP=49, NHealthy=190)=3737.00, p=0.028, d=0.3; U(NBVP=50, NHealthy=190)=1223.50, p<0.001, d=1.22, respectively), while the dynamic gait sub scores were not significantly different (U(NBVP=50, NHealthy=190)=4374.50, p=0.367, d=0.11). A stronger negative Spearman correlation between age and Mini-BESTest total score was found in the BVP group (ρ = -0.67; 95% CI: -0.74 to -0.35; p < 0.001) than in the healthy group (ρ = -0.32; 95% CI: -0.32 to -0.11; p < 0.001). Mini-BESTest total scores were not significantly different between participants with BVP who had and had not experienced a fall in the previous 12 months.Conclusions: Our findings illustrate that the Mini-BESTest can be used with people with BVP and confirm the commonly reported balance deficits in BVP. The negative association between age and balance was stronger in BVP, perhaps related to the age-related decline in the remaining functional sensory systems with which people with BVP compensate.

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“…There are several tests that can be used to assess balance deficits, allowing early identification of elderly people with decreased balance capacity, to allow the implementation of interventions to prevent falls [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional and balance assessment in older adults

Santos¹,

Duque²,

Pereira³

2022

Med Clin Sci

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Introduction: The aging process is characterized by several processes of change, which lead to a decrease in physiological and functional capacities. Functional fitness in the elderly is of great importance for carrying out activities of daily living, allowing the detection of limitations that result from the aging process and thus preventing and reducing the various functional declines. Objective: To systematically review the existing scientific literature on what is the best way to assess functional fitness in the elderly. Method: Systematic review with search of all scientific articles, indexed in “PubMed”, since January 2010. Results: 323 articles were identified, of which only 8 were considered eligible for review. The studies analyzed showed some divergence in terms of the best way to assess functional capacity and balance. BESTest and the unstable board have been suggested as the best tests to measure balance. Conclusions: The assessment of balance is more adequately assessed by tests on a board and the fragility is better assessed by tests such as Timed Up and Go. The characteristics and individuality of the populations concerned must be the primary factor in determining which assessment to apply.

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Dynamic balance assessment using an unstable board in community-dwelling elderly people

Cited by 8 publications

References 35 publications

The Alusti Test, a Functional Assessment Scale Applicable to the Geriatric Population

The Alusti Test, a Functional Assessment Scale Applicable to the Geriatric Population

Assessing Balance in People with Bilateral Vestibulopathy using the Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest)

Functional and balance assessment in older adults

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