@article{ref1,
title="Measurements of Stepping Accuracy in a Multitarget Stepping Task as a Potential Indicator of Fall Risk in Elderly Individuals",
journal="Journals of gerontology. Series A: Biological sciences and medical sciences",
year="2011",
author="Yamada, Minoru and Higuchi, Takahiro and Tanaka, Buichi and Nagai, Koutatsu and Uemura, Kazuki and Aoyama, Tomoki and Ichihashi, Noriaki",
volume="66",
number="9",
pages="994-1000",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Elderly individuals who are at high risk for a fall generally exhibit increased gait variability, a decline in visuomotor control of foot movement, and cognitive impairment, particularly in executive functions. A new walking test, a multitarget stepping task, was developed in the present study to identify elderly individuals with impaired stepping performance on a walkway requiring the involvement of executive functions to find a footfall target. METHODS: Thirty-one high-risk (82.7 ± 6.4 years) and 87 low-risk (80.7 ± 7.9 years) elderly individuals performed the multitarget stepping task on 2 days with a 2-week interval. For the multitarget stepping task, they walked while stepping on squares with an assigned color as a footfall target continuously along the 15 lines while avoiding other colors (distracters). Two types of failure were measured: (a) failure to step precisely on the target (stepping failure) and (b) failure to avoid distracters (avoidance failure). The two groups' performance was compared. A logistic regression analysis was also performed to determine whether the measurements were independently associated with falling. RESULTS: The high-risk groups showed a significantly higher rate in stepping (64.5 vs 25.3% of participants in the group) and avoidance (54.8 vs 17.2%) failure than the low-risk groups. The test-retest analyses showed good agreement for both measurements. A logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the stepping failure was independently associated with falling (odds ratio = 19.365, 95% confidence interval = 3.28-113.95; p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Measurements of stepping accuracy while performing the multitarget stepping task, particularly precise stepping failure, could contribute to identifying high-risk elderly individuals.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1079-5006",
doi="10.1093/gerona/glr073",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glr073"
}