Background: The global population is becoming older and more overweight. The inter-relationship between frailty and falls is often seen in the older adult and is associated with poor health outcomes. Little is known about this relationship for those with excess body mass.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe five-times-sit-to-stand test (FTSS) is an established assessment of lower limb strength, balance dysfunction and falls risk. Clinically, the time taken to complete the task is recorded with longer times indicating increased falls risk. Quantifying the movement using tri-axial accelerometers may provide a more objective and potentially more accurate falls risk estimate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
July 2013
Postural sway during quiet standing is associated with falls risk in older adults. The aim of this study was to investigate the utility of a range of accelerometer-derived parameters of centre of mass (COM) displacement in identifying older adults at risk of falling. A series of instrumented standing balance trials were performed to investigate postural control in a group of older adults, categorised as fallers or non-fallers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated three methods for estimating centre of pressure excursions, as measured using a portable pressure sensor matrix, in order to deploy similar technology into the homes of older adults for longitudinal monitoring of postural control and falls risk. We explored the utility of these three methods as markers of falls risk in a cohort of 120 community dwelling older adults with and without a history of falls (65 fallers, 55 non-fallers). A number of standard quantitative balance parameters were derived using each centre of pressure estimation method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFalls are the most common cause of injury and hospitalization and one of the principal causes of death and disability in older adults worldwide. Measures of postural stability have been associated with the incidence of falls in older adults. The aim of this study was to develop a model that accurately classifies fallers and non-fallers using novel multi-sensor quantitative balance metrics that can be easily deployed into a home or clinic setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Falls are the most common cause of injury and hospitalization and one of the principal causes of death and disability in older adults worldwide. This study aimed to determine if a method based on body-worn sensor data can prospectively predict falls in community-dwelling older adults, and to compare its falls prediction performance to two standard methods on the same data set.
Methods: Data were acquired using body-worn sensors, mounted on the left and right shanks, from 226 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 71.
Objective: Fear of falling is one of the most common fears among community-dwelling older people and is as serious a health problem as falls themselves. Understanding fear of falling in fallers transitioning to frailty may help us identify effective strategies to reduce it in this already vulnerable group of older people. Our aim was to evaluate the psychological factors associated with fear of falling in a group of fallers transitioning to frailty when compared with robust or non-frail fallers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne in three adults aged over 65 falls every year, resulting in enormous costs to society. Incidents of falling vary with time of day, peaking in the early morning. The aim of this study was to determine if the ability of instrumented gait and balance assessments to discriminate between participants based on their falls history varies diurnally.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Anxiety and depression are common in older people but are often missed; to improve detection we must focus on those elderly people at risk. Frailty is a geriatric syndrome inferring increased risk of poor outcomes. Our objective was to explore the relationship between frailty and clinically significant anxiety and depression in later life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
June 2012
An instrumented version of the five-times-sit-to-stand test was performed in the homes of a group of older adults, categorised as fallers or non-fallers. Tri-axial accelerometers were secured to the sternum and anterior thigh of each participant during the assessment. Accelerometer data were then used to examine the timing of the movement, as well as the root mean squared amplitude, jerk and spectral edge frequency of the mediolateral (ML) acceleration during the total assessment, each sit-stand-sit component and each postural transition (sit-stand and stand-sit).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
June 2012
Gait impairment is associated with increased falls risk. The gait of 321 community dwelling elderly adults was assessed using the TRIL Gait Analysis Platform (GAP), which was specially designed for ease of use in a research clinic setting by non-experts. The GAP featured body-worn kinematic sensors, a pressure sensitive electronic walkway, and two orthogonally mounted web cameras, and was developed using open platform tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: the safety of older pedestrians at urban intersections is a matter of gerontological concern. Many older pedestrians report inability to complete crossings in the time given by pedestrian lights. Standard times for pedestrian lights in Dublin pelican crossings are specified in the Traffic Management Guidelines (TMG).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF