Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine whether there is an association
between fall risk measured posturographically and clinical balance tests among people who are
over 65 years of age, and to identify the discriminative ability of the posturographic fall risk index.
Materials and Methods: Two hundred and twenty participants who were over 65 years of
age were included in the study. The balance and fall risk of participants were assessed with the
Berg balance scale (BBS) and a posturography device; functional mobility with the Timed Up and
Go (TUG) test; lower extremity neuromuscular function with the Chair Stand test (CST) and quality
of life with the Short Form-36 (SF-36). Participants were grouped into two, as fallers and nonfallers,
on the basis of the past year’s fall history.
Results: A total of 78 participant (35.5%) had a history of falling, while 142 (64.5%) of the
subjects did not. Age, TUG and posturographic fall risk index of fallers were significantly higher
than for nonfallers, whilst some subgroups of the SF-36, BBS and mean CST scores were lower
(p<0.05). There were negative correlations between posturographic fall risk and the BBS (r=-0.84)
and CST (r=-0.40) yet a positive correlation with the TUG (r=0.67) (p<0.05). Using the agreement
between the posturographic fall risk index and history of falls, the area under the ROC curve was
0.818. In this study, when the cut-off value 51≤ was used, sensitivity was found to be 76.9% and
specificity was 73.9%, with a higher value for the Youden index: 0.508.
Conclusion: It was shown that fallers had poorer balance, functional mobility, lower extremity
neuromuscular function and quality of life than nonfallers. The study also demonstrated that
posturographically obtained fall risk was significantly correlated with clinical balance tests and had
good discriminative ability to identify fallers.Girifl: Bu çal›flman›n amac›, 65 yafl üstü bireylerde posturografik düflme riski ile klinik denge
testleri aras›nda iliflki olup olmad›¤›n› de¤erlendirmek ve posturografik düflme indeksinin ay›rt
edici kapasitesini belirlemekti.
Gereç ve Yöntem: Çal›flmaya, 65 yafl üstü 220 kifli al›nd›. Kat›l›mc›lar›n denge ve düflme riski;
posturografik düflme riski ve Berg denge testi (BDT), fonksiyonel mobilitesi; Zamanl› Kalk-Yürü
Testi (ZKYT), alt ekstremite nöromuskuler fonksiyonu; sandalyeye otur kalk testi (SOKT) ve yaflam
kalitesi; K›sa Form-36 (KF-36) kullan›larak de¤erlendirildi. Hastalar son bir y›l içindeki düflme
öyküsüne göre; düflenler ve düflmeyenler olmak üzere, iki gruba ayr›ld›.
Bulgular: Çal›flmaya al›nan bireylerin 78’inde (%35,5) düflme öyküsü varken 142’inde
(%64,5), düflme öyküsü yoktu. Düflme öyküsü olanlar›n yafl, posturografik düflme riski, ve ZKYT
skorlar› düflme öyküsü olmayanlara göre istatistiksel olarak anlaml› derecede yüksek iken, KF-36
yaflam kalitesinin baz› alt grup skorlar›, BDT skoru ve SOKT ortalama say›s› ise düflüktü (p<0,05).
Posturografik düflme riski ile BDT (r=-0.84) ve SOKT (r=-0.40) aras›nda negatif korelasyon, ZKYT
(r=0.67) ile pozitif korelasyon saptand› (p<0,05). Posturografik düflme riski ile düflme öyküsü
aras›ndaki uyuma bak›ld›¤›nda ROC e¤risi alt›nda kalan alan 0,818 idi. Bu çal›flmada, cut-off
de¤eri 51 ve üzeri al›nd›¤›nda en yüksek Youden indeks skoru 0,508 ile sensitivite %76,9 ve spesifite
%73,9 olarak saptand›.
Sonuç: Düflme öyküsü olanlar›n denge, fonksiyonel mobilite, alt ekstremite nöromusküler
fonksiyon ve yaflam kalitelerinin düflme öyküsü olmayanlara göre daha kötü oldu¤u gösterilmifltir.
Çal›flmada ayr›ca posturografik düflme riskinin klinik denge testleri ile anlaml› olarak iliflkili
oldu¤unu ve düflenleri belirlemede iyi ay›rt edici kapasitesi sergiledi¤i gösterilmifltir
